Date of Award

6-2018

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Spanish and Hispanic Studies

First Advisor

Victoria Martinez

Language

Spanish

Keywords

feminism, Mexico, domestic abuse, oppression, women, upper class

Abstract

The goal of feminism is to ensure the equality of all genders. This goal means that women are supposed to be seen as equal to men in society. However, despite the many feminist efforts to bring this equality into reality, many in the world still believe that women are inferior to men. This belief stems from historical oppression of women that has continued up until modern day times. In Mexico, there is still strong beliefs that exist that prevent women from achieving liberation and freedom in society. Ideas related to traditional family values, machismo, and internalized misogyny all act as oppressing forces toward women in all socio-economic levels of society. In her novel La Genara, Rosina Conde presents the problems that arise for upper class women when these forms of oppression take hold on women’s lives. The two main characters in this novel, Genara and Luisa, are both oppressed and restricted in different ways by societal expectations that dictate their own behavior and the behavior of the men around them. Through her argument in this book, Conde emphasizes a greater critique for the need for a societal restructuring in order to ensure the realization of gender equality in Mexico, rather than accept the false assumption that this equality already exists.

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