The 10 essays introduce some concepts and topics of particular concern and interest to those wishing to analyze the situation of the Chicana within her particular historical, social and economical context. Topics of the essays are: (1) the Chicana labor force; (2) the role of the Chicana within the student movement; (3) the Chicana and the Chicano family--functions and dynamics of the family, economic perspective of the family, economic exploitation of women; (4) the female's role in Pre-Hispanic society (written in Spanish); (5) the Chicana and health services--the immigrant's influences, the Chicana as a woman and mother, the Chicana's health, Chicanas in health professions; (6) internal contradictions in the works of authors writing about a lower social class than their own; (7) Chicana history (a review of the literature); (8) Malintzin Tenepal (La Malinche); (9) industrial and occupational distribution of Chicana workers in California and Texas as of 1969; and (10) the women's task of gaining liberation--the Mexican women's oppression, misconceptions perpetuated, the ranks of the unskilled, social relations, and the struggle for the working class. The literature review covers the Colonial Period (1519-1821), the Nineteenth Century (1821-1910), and the Contemporary Period (1910-1976). The novel "Hasta no verte Jesus mio", a work on a woman written by a woman, is discussed as an example of the internal contradictions found in the work of a middle class writer who writes about the lower class. (NQ)