By Maria Rios – MuseumOfTheCity.org – Photo Salvador Rojas

While pachucas were being persecuted from both the American public and their own community, there began a gender shift and an empowerment growing in ethnic women and the subculture was making an impact. Pachucas represented as an example of the rise in women’s role in the public during World War II. “With more women entering the work force than ever before, an anxious U.S society feared that females with new found freedoms would be unwilling to return to domestic life once the war ended” [6]. Pachucas defied mainstream notions of what was considered proper feminine decorum.

Read More