Why was literacy so important for Maria? How may her illiteracy have been related to the abuse by her husband?

Question

Carla Hudson, a Black social worker with the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), had worked with Maria Velasquez, a Mexican immigrant and mother of two children, for several years as she struggled to escape a violent home situation. Maria was Carla’s first Spanish-speaking client. Maria’s spoken English was easily understandable, but she could not read or write English well. As Carla assisted Maria in acquiring mainstream services, including Head Start, TANF, Food Stamps, and WIC, she noticed barriers to services that she began to suspect were related to discrimination against Spanish-speaking clients. When two White Head Start caseworkers refused to help Maria attain educational support that she needed in order to gain English literacy, Carla faced the challenge of addressing discrimination issues in another agency and perhaps throughout the service delivery system in Jasper, Alabama.

Answer 1

Maria probably had difficulty trying to leave this situation for many of the classic reasons, including patriarchal norms that persist, financial dependency, and threats of harm both to her and to her children. However, Maria’s immigrant status and limited English literacy made her even more dependent on Rodney for managing their financial and personal affairs.