Yolanda Quiroz Gamez

Interviewer

Daniel Macorro

Project

Daniel Macorro

Summary of Interview

Yolanda was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico. On June 30, 1967. Her parent’s names were Porfirio and Maria and they were also from Aguascalientes. His father used to work in the field before going to the city to find a job and her mother didn’t work. Yolanda’s grandparents used to talk to her about the Mexican Revolution and she learned a lot about Mexican culture thru them. Her grandmother told her that when her mother was little they had to hide her because in the times of the revolution young women would get raped by men and the only way that they could avoid it was by hiding. This was a very sad period of time for women in Mexico. Her father went and work in the city and started working in a construction company, his job allowed him to travel to many places in Mexico. Yolanda and her siblings moved from city to city with her parents because of their work, but when they got to high school her parents decided that they should stop moving a settle somewhere.

Yolanda’s mother Maria was really good with numbers so she handles all the bills and always had some money aside in case of something happening. Yolanda took her mother's example and now she is really good at managing her money. Maria used to stay home with her children every day, but when their father arrived they will all get very excited to see him because he was working all day. Yolanda talked about how her parents used to hit them with a belt if they misbehaved, this was a very common practice to educate your children in Mexico back in the day. During this period of time, Yolanda really enjoyed playing basketball and going to parties. Their parent's rules for going to parties was that all the sibling’s needed to go together to take care of each other and if one of them didn’t want to go no one would have permission to go. This caused many fights between Yolanda and her siblings.

Yolanda talked about the many things women in Mexico needed to do in the eyes of the Mexican society, such as getting home late, going on dates and etc. She mentioned that now a day these things are now different and women in Mexico don’t follow these things anymore and have more freedom of doing what they want and not what society tells them to do.

Yolanda now works with teens teaching them about their health and how to take care of them and be safe; this is a very important topic in her opinion because back in the day teens didn’t receive this information. Yolanda also mentioned in the interview that now everyone can talk about anything and it’s not seen as a bad thing.

Yolanda never got married and she thinks that her age is not a factor to get married. She got proposed to four times in her life, but she didn’t felt like getting married was the right thing for her. She didn’t want to depend on a man and she wanted to be free and not be attached to someone.

Yolanda studied medicine and now teaches others about her major and health. Every day after work she finds new activities because she doesn’t like to stay in her comfort zone. Some people see her as a very occupied woman, but overall she is very happy with her life. Yolanda feels very happy that now a day she can teach about health and not be seen as a bad topic, she also feels proud of being a woman and being able to do whatever she wants without society criticizing her as they did back in the day.

Date of Interview

2-23-1998

Length of Interview

1 hour 4 minutes

Tape Number

No. 1710

Transcriber

Andrea Santos

Interview Number

No. 1710

Terms of Use

Unrestricted

Comments

There is no transcript. Andrea Santos transcribed the summary.

Download

Included in

Oral History Commons

Share

COinS