ABSTRACT
Research in women’s health has recently uncovered significant disparities in access and health status among ethnic women and women of color. For Latina and Chicana/Mexicana women, acculturation, as one of the most important predictive factors in both health access and health status measures, tends to frame empirical research and inform health policy. What is problematic in these empirical models, however, is the assumption that acculturation is a static process that can be captured and measured by specific attributes such as language, ancestry, behaviors, and attitudinal preferences. Overreliance on assumptions of static acculturation objectifies the immigrant woman subject by denying her power in the decision-making process. This results in descriptive attributes becoming “objective” criteria that predict good or bad health outcomes.
