The Schooling of Young Empowered Latinas/Mexicanas Navigating Unequal Spaces

Abstract

In recent years, important advancement has been documented in the literature about the educational attainment among female Latinas. However, Latina girls and young women continue to face significant challenges throughout their education journeys that are not always evident in statistical analyses. This chapter aims to map out a range of sources of oppression at the intersections of transnational constructions of gender, race, class, language, and citizenship that continue

Composing college identities: Latina girls writing their way to the Universidad

“…Structural and economic barriers to Latinas girls’ educational advancement and attainment begin as early as Kindergarten (Rodríguez and Cervantes-Soon, 2020). Upon entering school, young Latinas are often labeled as “at-risk” of early pregnancy (López and Chesney-Lind, 2014) and framed as culturally and linguistically deficient (Cuero and Valdez, 2012).…”

“…Upon entering school, young Latinas are often labeled as “at-risk” of early pregnancy (López and Chesney-Lind, 2014) and framed as culturally and linguistically deficient (Cuero and Valdez, 2012). Many factors impede the PreK-12 schooling experiences of Latinas, including high tuition rates for pre-school programs and a scarcity of bilingual teachers in these programs (Gándara, 2015; Rodríguez and Cervantes-Soon, 2020). Latinas are more likely to attend under-resourced K-12 schools with inadequate facilities, limited access to high-level curricula, high teacher turnover, and lower academic expectations for students (Gándara, 2015).…”