Focusing on four Mexican American women from migrant farmworker backgrounds and one woman recently immigrated from Mexico, the study explored the attitudes and experiences of the Mexican American culture considered important by Mexican American migrant women themselves. Extensive open-ended interviews, conducted mostly in the women's homes, were used to gather data on such aspects of life as courtship, love, marriage, motherhood, women's rights, and education. Through these autobiographical case studies, data about key aspects of Mexican American womanhood were revealed with an effort to identify differences between ideals and reality and how the women dealt with cultural contradictions: (1) growing up--early adult responsibility conflicting with strong parent protection of"weak" female; (2) symbolic events, i.e., fifteenth birthday party and church wedding; (3) machismo and the double standard--women did not view themselves as helpless victims; (4) motherhood--basic to womanhood but belonging within viable family unit, mother as a change agent via education of children; (5) decision making and economic concerns; (6) women's roles and impression management; (7) ethnic identity and socioeconomic structures. Educational implications stressed nontraditional approaches, bilingual/bicultural education, and awareness of diversity within a culture. (RS)