Many women are first in family to attend college

  NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Carribean
Fragoza is the first woman in her family to attend
college.

By Rachel Makabi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

For the parents of many first generation female students,
college was never considered since marriage appeared the only
viable option for a woman.

Yet times have changed for women, said Carribean Fragoza, the
first woman in her family to attend college.

Fragoza, a third-year Chicano/a studies student, balances her
schoolwork with her position as editor of La Gente Newsmagazine,
but other women in her family were more limited in their
options.

Although her mother wants her to get married, Fragoza said, she
emphasizes the importance of securing an education and a job
beforehand, mainly because she never had the option herself.

“I think there are so many women who get married young and
don’t get an education and are just miserable,” Fragoza
said, adding she used to think she didn’t want to ever get
married.

Fragoza said she never questioned the importance of going to
college, mainly because American culture pushed it so much, adding
that women are afforded more options in the United States than in
Mexico.

Still her parents treat her differently than they would treat a
boy, she said, citing they wouldn’t let her play softball or
take art classes because she is a girl.

In addition, her father refuses to teach her how to drive and
will not permit her to get her driver’s license, though
Fragoza said he would probably be less strict with her brother.

Though her parents were happy when she decided to go to college,
she says her father would still prefer her to attend a junior
college near her house because he is against living away from home
and makes sure she is home after classes every Friday.

“A lot of times, when I’m reading a book, my father
looks at it as leisure time and tells me to go mop something
instead,” Fragoza said. “But I think my mother
understands more if I have to finish a book or write a
paper.”

Overall, Fragoza said the situation is changing for Chicanas,
and more of them are deciding to pursue their educations now than
before.

Iranian women are also beginning to attend college in greater
numbers, said fourth-year psychology student Sandy Sabet, who is
also the first woman in her family to attend.

Like Fragoza, Sabet’s mother married young instead of
going to college.

“I think beforehand, women thought of their jobs as
getting married and having kids,” Sabet said.

But Sabet, who is currently awaiting responses from various
graduate schools, said she never thought twice about the importance
of attending college and the value of getting an education.

Though it is not the norm, Sabet says there are still many
Iranian girls who want to get married and do not want to get a
college degree.

“I feel so sorry for them because they don’t have
the opportunity to explore and get to know themselves and do what
they want to do.”

Usually, when Iranian women have pressure to get married, Sabet
said, it doesn’t come from their parents but from seeing
their friends get married young.

“Women have to think on a long-term basis because it is
their life and if you don’t like something, why spend your
whole life doing it,” Sabet said.

Looking at their experiences, both Fragoza and Sabet said they
hope women in the future will never feel restricted by their
gender.

“If I were to ever have a daughter, I would just tell her
to do whatever she wants to do,” Fragoza said.
“I’d let her take art, or softball, things that I
wasn’t allowed to do, I’d just let her know that she
can.”