TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose This chapter explains why college-educated Latinas, the daughters of working-class Latino immigrant parents, are disproportionately entering the teaching profession in the United States.Methodology/approach This qualitative study relies on secondary statistical data, an analysis of regional trends and 40 in-depth face-to-face interviews with Latina teachers that work in Southern California elementary schools.Findings Teaching has traditionally been a white woman’s occupation, but it is now the number one career drawing college-educated Latina women, who are entering the teaching profession at greater rates than African Americans or Asian Americans. Current scholarship posits that teaching is a career that resonates with Latina women’s racial-ethnic solidarity and feminine sense of duty to help others. In this chapter, we show how class background is also a key in understanding why the teaching profession has emerged as the top occupational niche for college-educated Latina women. While racial uplift, gender ideals, and family socialization help explain why college-educated Latinas are going into teaching, we add an emphasis on socio-economic class, demographic and structural context, and collectively informed agency.Research limitations/implications This study sheds light on the factors that shape upward mobility and career outcomes in white-collar jobs for minority students and second generation Latinas, the children of immigrants.Originality/value This chapter offers a sociological analysis that suggests Latina teachers navigate their educational and career choices with collective-informed agency and strong obligations to family members. To best understand why Latina/Chicana college graduates are increasingly concentrated in the teaching profession, we advocate an intersectionalities approach that takes class seriously.
VL  - 27
SN  - 978-1-78441-632-4, 978-1-78441-631-7/0277-2833
DO  - 10.1108/S0277-283320150000027024
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320150000027024
AU  - Flores Glenda M.
AU  - Hondagneu-Sotelo Pierrette
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - A New Gendered Occupational Niche: Latina Pathways into the Teaching Profession
T2  - Immigration and Work
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Work
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 255
EP  - 287
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -