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By Nathan Baker

Oscar Perez sits in the Maytag Home Style Laundromat waiting patiently for the spin cycle to end. When his clothes come out, he takes them over to a dryer and tosses them inside. He drops five quarters into the slot and hits the start button.

“The first time I did my laundry someone had to show me where the coins go,” he said.

Perez, 30, immigrated to Erwin three years ago looking for work so he could send money back to Mexico to his mother and sisters. He found the work, but he wasn’t totally prepared for life on his own.

“When I got here, I didn’t know anything,” he said. “I didn’t know how to do laundry, I didn’t know how to cook; I had to learn all these things.”

The two men with whom Perez shares an apartment had similar struggles.

“They were just like me, they didn’t know how to do these things,” Perez said. “We help each other a lot. Sometimes I’ll cook for them and one of them will clean.”

In Tennessee, there is a broad gap in the number of men and women in the Hispanic community. The American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau estimated 45 percent more Hispanic men than women lived in the state in 2006. Many men come looking for a job, like Perez and his roommates, leaving behind women in their families who normally did the housework.

In their research on Hispanic gender roles, sociologists Marcela Raffaelli and Lenna Ontai described two distinct roles, “machismo” and “marianismo.”

The researchers say machismo, the traditional male role, involves being dominant, virile and independent. On the other hand is marianismo, the idealized female role, which involves being submissive, chaste, and dependent. The study said these roles are created when a mother teaches gender roles to her daughter and a father teaches them to a son.

How these traditional roles affect behavior is debated among sociologists, but most agree they have some bearing on how Hispanic boys and girls are raised.

“When I was growing up, there were three women in the house,” Perez said as he folds a shirt. “I didn’t have to learn to do things like this. Now that I’m on my own, I wish I had.”

Perez said he doesn’t mind doing the housework. In fact, he’s discovered he has a certain flair for cooking. But he hopes to one day share these responsibilities with a wife.

“I need to get married so I can finally rest,” he said with a smile.