The Effect of Immigrant Experiences on the Bifurcation of Women’s Consciousness

Marx believed that through labor, human kind would be able to realize its "species-being," i.e., its potential for creative and purposeful activity through work. What Marx envisioned was the use of labor for the enhancement of human life beyond material necessity, for the creation of a society in which aesthetic as well as material needs could be fulfilled. Labor could potentially provide such an opportunity, for it allowed persons to display creative and purposeful activity through their work under the right conditions. (Farganis 24) Thinking back to my childhood, I remember observing my mom getting up early in the morning to make sure my brother and sister were ready for school. She would check their school uniforms to make sure they were clean and neatly ironed. In the same way she would check their shoes to make sure they were clean and shiny. The previous night, before going to bed, she would check their homework for errors and neatness. I was off the hook for a while, since I was younger than my brother and sister by four and five years respectively, but eventually I became part of the checking routine. My mom was not a stay at home mom like many Latin American women. She was a working mother, partly for necessity and partly to fulfill her dream of being a professional as she used to say. For her, work was more than a means to gain a salary; it was a way to demonstrate her potential. Before, I didn't understand what my mom meant when she said she felt "fulfilled" by her work. Marx, as remembered by James Farganis in the quote above, knew exactly what this feeling is, it's the feeling that we are creative beings and that we have potential for something great. In the same way, it's the feeling experienced deep inside us, of having a purpose in life, knowing that we are here in this world not just by a random error but because we are meant to be here. My mother would not have been able to do what she did, had she been born a couple of decades earlier. For example, my grandmother, a very intelligent woman, was not able to finish high school because she had to take care of her younger siblings while her parents managed the family business. The movie Billy Elliot shows a similar situation. Billy, a young teenage boy, has to assume the responsibility of taking care of his elderly grandmother while his father and brother work. In a way, this makes me think that in times of great need and uncertainty common attitudes are put aside. Billy's father was going through a strike situation where his older son was also involved. This was not a time to be considerate towards his younger son who should have been enjoying his childhood, instead of taking care of his grandmother. My great grandparents were also going through a difficult time with their business and both had to work. It didn't matter that my grandmother was just a teenage girl; she had to assume the responsibility of taking care of her siblings even if that meant giving up school. A couple of years later she got married and wanted to go back to school and later find a job but her husband told her that as long as he was alive she would never have to work, therefore, school was not a priority. For him her most important job was at home taking care of their children. My grandfather was not a mean, controlling man; he was very gentle and loving towards my grandmother and their children. He just expressed and followed the social norms that he had learned while growing up. It was customary that women stayed home taking care of their children. Sometimes we forget that society is all around us, influencing and shaping who we are. This brings to mind, what Durkheim, so eloquently said, "we know of its existence because society exercises control over our behavior, as rules of conduct, as laws, as customs, and as norms and values that we believe in and that shape our conscience and make us part of a collectively" (Durkheim, in Farganis 55). At the time when my grandparents married, women worked only if it was extremely necessary and usually the male was seen as a failure for not being able to provide sufficiently for his wife and family. …