Latinas juggle gender rules and 'dueling cultural pressures,' survey shows

Most Latinas say they feel pressure to succeed at work and provide for their loved ones at home while also juggling cultural expectations surrounding traditional Hispanic gender roles: doing housework, starting families and living up to certain beauty standards, according to a Pew Research Center survey published Tuesday.

“These are widespread pressures that women face in the U.S. overall, but one unique thing about Latinas is that many of them have recent immigrant connections and this produces unique cultural pressures that they may feel from family or friends,” Jens Manuel Krogstad, a senior writer and editor at Pew who co-authored the survey, told NBC News.

Growing up as the oldest of 10 siblings in a Catholic, Mexican American home in North Carolina, Flor Herrera said she mostly feels stressed about being financially prepared to take care of her parents "when they're no longer able to take care of themselves."

At 33, Herrera said her family constantly asks when she plans to start her own family. She has even considered freezing her eggs, but she feels conflicted about having "to step back in my career if I want to be a mother," said Herrera, who serves as the executive director of Casa Azul de Wilson, a nonprofit organization she co-founded with one of her sisters to help first-generation Latino college students.

Such tensions have ignited an "inner battle" within Herrera as she figures out how much of her desire to start a family is innate or "because society has told me that I want it," she said. "It does seem like an achievement that I want to accomplish, just not right now. But when the time comes, what if I can't? That's also a big fear."

'Dueling cultural pressures'

According to the Pew survey, about 6 in 10 Latinas (63%) reported often feeling family or work-related pressures, similar to the ones Herrera expressed.

At 22.2 million, Latinas are 17% of the nation's adult women population. From 2010 to 2022, the U.S. Latina population grew 5.6 million, making it the largest increase of any major female racial or ethnic group, Pew noted. Additionally, the vast majority of Latinas (77%) are either immigrants themselves or have at least one immigrant parent.

These trends highlight "the dueling cultural pressures" Latinas navigate that other groups of U.S. women may not have to deal with, Krogstad said, adding that the survey shows "the complexity of what it’s like to live in the U.S. as a Latina today."

Even though Estefany Londoño, a sociology graduate student in Florida, is not big on putting on makeup, she found herself getting dolled up on Mother’s Day mainly to please her mother on her day.

“That stuff is rewarded,” Londoño said. “There’s definitely an expectation, both unspoken and spoken.”

After coming out as queer in college, Londoño said she felt pressure from her mother to present herself “as feminine as possible.” When it comes to expectations around doing housework, Londoño said, “I almost rebelled against it a little bit” after growing up in a Latino household where “doing chores was everything.”

Almost 7 in 10 (68%) Latinas said they face a great deal or fair amount of pressure to cook and clean at home, according to the Pew survey.

Sixty-two percent of Latinas surveyed said Hispanic women face pressure to be beautiful by dressing nicely, wearing makeup, or doing their hair and nails, and 56% reported feeling pressure to get married and have children.

'Don't you want to get married or have children?'

Valerie Rodríguez of Puerto Rico said she always aspired to study as much as she could before turning 30. As she worked to earn degrees in communications and government administration, her relatives peppered her with questions like "You're going to keep studying? ... Don't you want to get married or have children?"

At 32, Rodríguez said she's in no rush to have children. She wants to enjoy her adult life a bit longer and wait until her partner finishes medical school, so they can more equally share parenting tasks.

Though she is clear about what she wants, that doesn't stop relatives and society at large from placing their more traditional expectations on her, Rodríguez said.

Both Irene Godinez, 41, of North Carolina and Beatriz Marquez, 37, of Puerto Rico said they feel a big pressure to not only succeed at work, but “leave a positive impression” as one of a few Latinas in most workplaces.

"I will be seen as a brown Latina first before I’m seen as a southerner, as a woman, as a mother, as a queer person, as a professional or anything else," said Godinez, who leads Poder NC Action, her own civic engagement nonprofit.

As someone who works in the music industry, Marquez said she feels “this big responsibility that I have placed on myself to ensure that our voices are heard, to make sure that I’m not only good at my job, but that I exceed expectations.”

Despite the pressures and the tensions, 86% of Latinas reported being happy with the direction their lives are going, according to the Pew survey.

About half of the Latinas surveyed said the situation of U.S. Hispanic women has improved over the past decade, "and about half say they expect improvement in the next 10 years," Krogstad said.

Herrera agreed.

"We have come a long way in terms of breaking societal norms, but obviously we have a long way to go," she said.

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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com