Diana C.

Reyes

Teach for Equity

Dr. Michaels

September 14, 2016

Auto-Ethnography

What constitutes a person’s identity? Is it their name, their personality, their

individuality? It is all these things and more. Experiences also shape our identity, for we would

not be who we are, or even know what we know, if it were not for them. Elements such as our

ethnicities, gender, and age are major components of our identities. Personally, I believe that my

ethnicity and gender have played a large part in the formation of my identity.

Growing up as a women in this world means that you are a minority, being part of the

49.6% of the world population. Though this is a mere .40% difference, women around the world

continuously face challenges from a male-governed society. Over the past 100 years, women

from developed countries have gained a tremendous foothold as fully-functional members of

society, by gaining the right to: vote, receive a college education, and the ability to attain high

positions in government. Despite the progress of women in these areas, we are still likely to

encounter discrimination. A large factor that hinders progress is teaching gender roles and

expecting people to follow these set gender norms from a young age. Women in society are

expected to attend to errands such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, and raising children. I can attest

to these areas being emphasized as a child in my own family. During the summers I would travel

to Spain to spend time with my extended family, including my cousins, their parents, and my

grandmothers. We were all expected to do chores everyday in order to maintain the house in a

clean state of affairs, although over a few days I realized that my three cousins and I, all women,
were expected to do a specific category of work that my brother and younger cousin did not. As

women we were expected to sweep and mop the floors, make the beds, and set the table, whereas

the two males were assigned simple yard work such as raking the pine needles and dumping the

piles into the field. When I complained to my grandmother that the boys could also help set the

table they eat at, I was blown off and told that they boys were not expected to do house work. I

was appalled because in my immediate family my mother had taught all of her kids how to sew

and do all kinds of housework that could have otherwise been categorized as “women’s work.”

My cousins had to explain to me that my grandmother was from a different time and that her

attitude was typical for her upbringing, although this did not soften the blow when she would

praise her boys and refrain from expressing such excitement about the girls. Years later I

understand that this was due to what she was conditioned to believe about gender roles while she

was growing up.

These experiences with my grandmother have taught me that no one should have to feel

discriminated based on their gender, and so as a teacher when it comes to assigning tasks for

things such as clean up, it will be a teaching moment for students to learn that everyone is

capable of doing every job. If comments from students were to arise about how “thats a girl’s

job” or somewhere along those lines, it would make for a good lesson to deconstruct gender

roles. In the workforce, women are still payed less hourly for the same job as men and are more

likely to be passed over for promotions, therefore by instilling equality in tasks from a young age

I hope that students can recognize that doing the same job warrants the same reward, no matter

what gender you identify with.

The topic of ethnicity has also been greatly influential in the development of my identity.

Ethnicity is defined as belonging to a social group with a common national or cultural tradition.
Growing up I do not believe I experienced any sort of discrimination based on my ethnicity, but

encountered a lot of questions on questionnaires asking me to choose one word to describe my

ethnic identity. For me, the answer was never clear cut. I could choose to be Hispanic/Latino,

although the definition they provided seemed to be specific to the Spanish-speaking countries

across Central and South America, or Caucasian, which was defined as non-hispanic european.

Evidently, I did not fit perfectly into either of these categories, and similar conversations have

led me to feel as though my identity is not acknowledged in most of society. When people have

asked what my ethnicity is, I am proud to inform them that I am Spanish. To this most reply, “so

is that like Mexican?” or “but you look White.” No, it is not Mexican, or any other Latin

American ethnicity, it is Spanish, from Spain, which is located in Southern Europe, which also

explains my European appearance. Some people have taken my offense at such offering as being

insulted to be lumped into a “lesser” ethnicity, but that is not the case. For me, it is simply

offensive when people look for an umbrella term that I could fit into in order to make it easier for

them to categorize me. It is also offensive because even if they do not mean to do it, the way

people say “Mexican” when asking that question seems very Hispanophobic, as if they are the

ones that believe that being a part of any Hispanic culture is anything less than acceptable.

It is attitudes like these that have shown me the importance of teaching young children

that their ethnicity is probably a large part of their identity, and no amount of stereotyping or

categorizing can stand in the way of that. I feel that as an educator it is also important to address

that these differences make us unique, and I would never want anyone to feel as though they are

any less of a person for being themselves.

There are many aspects of ourselves and our lives that make us unique, such as those

things that are more or less obvious: our gender or ethnicity; as well as our individuality and
personal history. Unfortunately, we may be challenged with negative encounters or experiences

based on something that makes us who we are, and that is not the problem of any one individual,

but society as a whole for allowing people to voice and act upon their ignorance instead of

teaching them how to accept all others with an open mind. My experiences of ethnicity and

gender have helped shaped my identity in a huge way, and I hope that my experiences only make

me stronger when faced with adversity.