No, It’s Not in Your Head. Professional and Family Pressure for Latinas Is Real—and We’ve Got Receipts

Being born Latina is a blessing we don’t plan to deny. We are a testament to centuries of history. We have one of the richest cultures in the world, and we wear it with pride. But being a woman and Latina has its perks—the immense pressure we feel from a young age.

Latinas live at the intersection of having to be perfect, often being emotionally and financially responsible for a household, and struggling with the inequalities of the working world.

If you feel like you see yourself in this description, we have something to tell you: no, it’s not just in your head. In fact, a new study from the Pew Research Center has made us feel less crazy.

The pressure of cultural expectations on Latinas

There are 22.2 million Latinas in the United States, 17% of all adult women in the country. And we are a significantly growing population. According to Pew, Latinas grew by 5.6 million between 2010 and 2022, the largest increase of any major racial or ethnic female group.

But our community has unique particularities. Most adult Latinas in the United States have recent ties to immigrants. This is because 77% are immigrants themselves or have at least one immigrant parent.

This implies that we grow up with traditional cultural values inherited from Latin America. These include family pressure and, even more so, the conditioning that family and community always come first.

The pressure to do everything and do it well

Through the Pew Research Center’s National Bilingual Latino Survey conducted last November, researchers shed light on the intricacies of being Latina in the United States.

For example, 53% of Latinas said they often feel pressured to support their family in some way. This includes caring for children or elderly relatives, supporting their family financially, or living near them.

Simultaneously, 39% of Latinas said they often feel pressured to succeed in their jobs or careers. In addition, respondents said they feel pressure to cook and clean the house, be nice to others, and raise a family. And 62% of Latinas said they felt pressure to look good by dressing well, putting on makeup, or doing their hair and nails.

Add to all this sexism and harassment

As if we don’t have enough to deal with, Latinas in the U.S. say sexism in the workplace is a big problem.

According to research by the Pew Research Center, approximately four in ten Hispanic women say that being a woman or Hispanic influences their daily lives. In fact, Hispanic women are more likely than Hispanic men to say that sexism is a problem in the workplace, schools, and the media.

Another eye-opening finding was that more than four in ten Hispanic women (44%) say that in the past 12 months, people have acted as if they were unintelligent. This was the most common of the five negative experiences in the survey.

Also, about one-third (31%) of Hispanic women say they have feared for their personal safety in the past year. The same proportion say a stranger made a comment about their appearance that made them feel uncomfortable during that time.

How can anyone live under that much pressure?

Well, a look at the mental health status of Latinas in the United States provides the answer. According to data from the American Psychological Association (APA), Latinas are twice as likely to develop depression compared to Latino men, white or African American populations.

Research also indicates that this may be due to the added responsibilities of being a woman in our community. Similarly, the APA found that Latino cultural values can trigger mental health problems in Latinas. A serious consequence of this is that we tend to underutilize mental health services compared to the general population.

The APA found that approximately one in four Latina adolescents have thought about suicide, a higher rate than their Latina counterparts.

“Familisimo, although it emphasizes a strong family unit, can inhibit Latina teenagers from embracing their own unique independent identity,” the organization found. “Marianismo, rooted in Catholicism’s admiration of the Virgin Mary, is the belief that women must be pure, self-sacrificing, pleasant, nurturing and demure.”

Simply put, Latinas are under pressure unmatched by other demographics that impact our mental health and make us more prone to developing anxiety and depression.

Yet, we are the largest entrepreneurial force in the country and one of the demographics with the highest educational attainment. Imagine what would happen if we didn’t have so much pressure.