Developing a Young Women's Self-Image and Self-Esteem

Developing a Young Women's Self-Image and Self-Esteem

As Latin American women, we are heirs of a culture of silence....

What hurts is the discovery of the measure of our silence. How deep it runs.

How many of us are indeed caught, unreconciled between two languages,

two political poles, and suffer the insecurities of that straddling.”

Alma Gomez, Cherrie Moraga, Mariana Romo-Carmona

I am visible -- see this Indian face -- yet I am invisible.

I both blind them with my beak nose and am their blind spot.

But I exist, we exist.

They'd like to think I have melted in the pot.

But I haven't. We haven't.

I am playing with my Self, I am playing with the world's soul,

I am the dialogue between my Self and el espiritu del mundo.

I change myself, I change the world.

Gloria Anzaldua

“In spite of the changes in women’s roles in society, in spite of the changes in their own mothers’ lives, many of today’s girls fall into traditional patterns of low self-image, self-doubt, and self-censorship of their creative and intellectual potential.” (Orenstein, xvi) A national survey on gender and self-esteem in adolescents conducted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which polled 3,000 boys and girls between the ages of nine and fifteen on their attitudes toward self, school, family, and friends, (xv) showed that, although both boys and girls “experience confusion and a faltering sense of self at adolescence, girls’ self-regard drops further than boys’ and never catches up.” (xvi) For a young girl, the passage into adolescence “is marked by a loss of confidence in herself and her abilities,” as well as a “scathingly critical attitude toward her body and a blossoming sense of personal inadequacy.” ...

... middle of paper ...

...ch at a time,” (274) so that everyone is heard and included.

Works Cited

Cuentos: Stories by Latinas. Edited by Alma Gomez, Cherrie Moraga, Mariana Romo-Carmona. New York : Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983.

Gorski, Dr. Paul. “Multicultural Pavilion: Quotations and Proverbs” Multicultural Pavilion: Resources and Dialogues for Educators, Students, & Activists. Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. 25 June 2000.

Orenstein, Peggy. SchoolGirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap, in association with the American Association of University Women. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

“School Practices to Promote the Achievement of Hispanic Students.” ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education Digest. Number 153, March 2000. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. 18 June 2000. http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/digests/dig153.html.