Leslie Ruiz

​ Argumentative Essay

Women empowerment has been an issue for decades. To what extent does culture

affect women’s empowerment? In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia

Alvarez, the main character Yolanda thinks it’s important to speak out about how
unfairly

women are treated in the Dominican society. Their relatives in the Dominican Republic

were strict on what girls can and cannot do. The girls handled it with independence.

Dominican tradition heavily enforces the patriarchal family and leaves little room for

females. Bicultural women even if born in the United States, besides facing sexism, they

deal with different customs, confront racism or being classified. One story that inspired

me was an eleven year old Meghan Markle was alarmed when a commercial for

dishwashing soap proudly asserted that “women all over America are fighting greasy

pots and pans”. She was especially horrified when two boys in her class loudly

proclaimed that women “belong” in the kitchen. Markle wrote a letter to protest the ad.
 Leslie Ruiz

She wrote to Hillary Clinton, who was the first lady at the time. She wrote to Gloria

Allred, the noted civil rights attorney. She wrote to Procter and Gamble, the

manufacturer of the soap. Lastly, she wrote to Linda Ellerbee, the host of Nick News. It

didn’t matter that she was eleven years old. She believed in women, and believed her

own power and wasn’t afraid. She wanted her rights. (Glamour: News and Culture,

Maggie Mallon 30 November 2017). Another story that caught my attention was the

company Mary Kay was begun with one objective that of giving women the chance to

succeed an opportunity that simply did not exist in the 60’s. It’s unbelieveable that a

woman’s brain was worth 50 cents from a dollar. (Racked: Mary Kay Empowered

Women Using a bit of a Pyramid Scheme, Jennifer Wright 24 April 2016). In How the

Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents the latin girls struggles when they move to a new

country and try to grow up as teenage women amidst oppression, sexism, and racism.

“​We don’t even try anymore to raise consciousness here. It’d be like trying for cathedral
 Leslie Ruiz

ceilings, in a tunnel, or something. Once, we did take on Tia Flor, who indicated her

large house, the well kept grounds, the Stone Cupid who had been re-routed it was his

mouth that sprouted water. “Look at me I’m a queen”, she argued. My husband has to

go to work everyday, I can sleep until noon, if I want. I’m going to protest my rights?”

(pg. 121). As adjusting to their American teen life the Garcia girls are disturbed by the

culture that women in the Dominican Republic embrace. Tia Flor uses the concepts of

“rights” which I believe is so incredulous. It becomes a temple of enlightenment and

freedom compared to the closed darkness of Dominican culture. Dominican Republic

pampered women in an unquestioning patriarchy. Women empowerment has been an

issue for decades. Bicultural women even if born in the United States, besides facing

sexism, they deal with different customs, confront racism or being classified.