The Mexican American female worker: Perspectives on gender and culture in the workplace

This study investigated how acculturation relates to the work experiences of Mexican American workers residing ina large urban city in the Southwest. Mendoza's Cultural Lifestyle Inventory (CLI; 1984) was used to measure the acculturation pattern of the participants. The CLI identifies three patterns of acculturation: Cultural Shift (CS) is a substitution of mainstream cultural norms for the person's native norms; Cultural Incorporation (CI) is the adaptation of customs from both the native and mainstream cultures; and Cultural Resistance (CR) is where the person retains her/his native customs. For female participants, acculturation significantly predicted the work factors of Social Support and Work Stability. Women with a CS pattern of acculturation reported greater social support at work. Women who had CR or CI patterns of acculturation reported greater work stability. Acculturation for the male participants in the study was not found to significantly predict the work factors. The inclusion of culture as a variable in studies investigating gender differences in work experiences is suggested, recognizing that future workers are more likely to be female and workers from culturally specific groups.