The Latino/Hispanic population in the United States is experiencing the highest growth rate. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of Latinos increased from 16% to 20% of the total. It is estimated that in 2050 this percentage will exceed 25%. Despite the growing demographic weight, the social conditions of the Latino population are very unfavorable compared to other ethnic groups, especially whites. However, when looking specifically at Latina women, the situation gets even worse.

According to the Department of Labor blog, the status of this segment in the labor market could be summarized like this:

1) Latinas represent a growing portion of the US workforce.

The number of Latinas in the workforce jumped to 12.5 million, surpassing black women. They now make up 16% of the female workforce, and that number is set to grow dramatically. Latinas of Mexican descent make up the largest portion of the workforce, followed by those who identify as Puerto Rican or Cuban.

2) The participation of the Latina workforce, especially Latina mothers, is increasing. 

The participation of Latinas in the workforce has historically been lower than that of other women, but is now at 56.4%, in line with rates for all women. About two-thirds of employed Latinas work full-time. Labor force participation among Latino mothers has also increased and is now at 62.8%, compared to 71.2% for all mothers.

3) While Latinas represent a growing portion of the US workforce, their salaries lag behind.

For every dollar a non-Latino white man earns, Hispanic women earn just 55 cents — the largest pay gap experienced by any major racial or ethnic group in the United States.

4) Despite general improvements to impoverished, Latinas are among the most likely to be 'poor workerS'.

Nearly 1 in 10 (8.7%) Latinas who work 27 hours or more per week are living below the poverty line – nearly double the rate of non-Hispanic white women (4.5%). At the same time, among all Latinos, poverty has declined sharply but remains high at 15.7%. The story is the same for Latino families headed by a single mother – the poverty rate today is half what it was in the early 1980s, but that rate (28.7%) remains among the highest experienced by any major country racial or ethnic group.

Discussions about economic security of Latina women, the issue of gender inequality and the resulting pay gap between men and women affect Latino women in the country to a greater extent. As we mentioned earlier, according to the American Association of University Women, if income inequality persists, Latinas will need to wait at least 176 years for wage parity to materialize. Latina women earn disproportionately less than white, non-Hispanic men. These disparities are leaving a growing portion of our population more vulnerable to poverty and its implications.

The American Progress study gives us the information that, in 2013, the Latino women earned $549 a week, a lower average compared to white and non-Latino women of $718. Additionally, between 2007 and 2012, the proportion of Latino women earning a minimum wage or less much than tripled, even though the number of poor Latino women who work is more than double that of white women, at 13.58%, compared to 6.69%.

On the “political leadership” front, while Latinas have a rich history of leadership in their communities, they are still underrepresented at all levels of government. Despite their high representation in the workforce, Latina women are only 3% in the two legislative chambers of the United States Congress. As we recently demonstrated, in the House of Representatives, only 13 (10 Democrats and 3 Republicans) of the 435 voting members are Latino. As a non-voting member in the Puerto Rico representation, there is one Latina Republican acting and in the other legislative chamber, there is also only one Latina Senator.

Although this is a challenging reality, long before Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gained prominence in the media across the country, some Latin women pioneers in politics paved the way for some changes in this political landscape to be possible. In 1946, Felisa Rincón de Gautier became the first female mayor of a capital city when she was elected mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1989, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was the first Latina to serve in the United States Congress. Nearly three decades later, in 2017, Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latino senator in the country, and just two years later, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman to serve in Congress.

It is also important to note that a record number of Latinas ran for Congressional positions in the 2020 elections. There were 75 Latina candidates for Congress, including those who lost the primary elections. It was the largest number of Latinas to run for both parties in a single electoral year.

According to the “Center for American Women and Politics” “women candidates who identify as Latina alone or with other race(s) are at least 12.3% of all women running for the U.S. House in 2020. Latinas are at least 11% of Democratic and 14.5% of Republican women House candidates, which are percentages similar to recent cycles”. Latinas represented 5% (3 out of 60) of all women Senate candidates in 2020, 5.4% (2 out of 37) of Democratic women candidates for the Senate, and 4.3% (1 out of 23) of Republican women candidates to the Senate.

Although recent numbers still do not reflect the political weight of Latin women in politics, it is possible to perceive the striking advances of organized groups in favor of greater political representation and the reduction of the socioeconomic and cultural gap that is a reason for the perpetuation of historical inequalities.

In this sense, we highlight some prominent social organizations in the United States that develop actions in favor of Latino women and their particularities: 

a) Hispanic Women's' League, Inc. was founded 42 years ago by women who came together for the benefit of Hispanic/Latino families in the established community in Buffalo, New York. The group was formed in 1978 from the initiative of Carmen Faccio when they established a group of professional women to work in services considered neglected among Latin women. In 1979, the organization was formed and, in the early 1980s, it established itself as a non-profit organization. One of the group's goals is to improve the quality of life for Latino women through personal and professional development. To this end, they provide scholarships for women of Hispanic descent to obtain higher education. On the institution's website there is a plan to open an institute dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Hispanic history, art and culture, called the “Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute”, which will be located on Niagara & Hudson Streets. Some of the organization's official sponsors include: M&T Bank Corporation, Evergreen Health and Pharmacy, Wolfgang & Weinmann Advocacy, Diane Y. Wray, District Court Judge of New York, among others.

b) 100 Hispanic Women National, Inc. is a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded by Shirley Rodríguez-Remeneski to develop and support Latina professionals. Aiming for women to have access to college and employment, the Young Latina Leadership Institute emerged in 2002, and the Bronx Global Leadership Academy for Girls, which guides and assists young Latinas in starting their studies. Among its supporters and partners are: NBC Universal (media and entertainment conglomerate), Toshiba Corporation, Bronx Care Health System; Lehman College, The City University of New York, Sunrise Medical Laboratories, Every Woman, Consolidated Edison, Inc., Con Edison (or ConEd) energy company, among others.

c) Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas (HWOA) is a non-profit organization founded in July 1999 by a group of women, especially Latinas. It was formed due to the needs arising from the growth of the Latino population in Northwest Arkansas. According to the organization, since 2004, “HWOA has been an affiliate of UnidosUS, whose mission is to build a stronger America by creating opportunities for Latinos. In 2001, HWOA was selected to participate in the UnidosUS Emerging Latino Communities Initiative (ELCI) and engages in activities aimed at promoting educational opportunities for Hispanic women and their families, and valuing Latino culture with the involvement of local communities. Among the organization's sponsors are: League of Women Voters (LWV), Engage NWA, Coca-Cola, broadcaster Univision Arkansas, Arvest Bank, among others.

d) Hispanic Women's Network of Texas (HWNT) is a non-profit state organization based in Austin, Texas, which also comprises other branches located in seven cities also in the State of Texas, namely: Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Rio Grande Valley. Founded in 1986, it became the state's premier Latino women's organization and originated through recognition of the need to organize Latino state leadership in public, corporate, and civic areas. According to the institution's website, “HWNT seeks to advance the educational, cultural, social, legal, and economic well-being of all women through a broader awareness of their role in society, business, and family”. It is also a group affiliated to the UnidosUS and has the following sponsors: The Rios Group Inc., Geico Seguros, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, H-E-B Helping Here, Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza, Sandra Garcia, Southwest Airlines, among others.

e) Hispanas Organized for Political Equality ® (HOPE), is a non-partisan and non-profit organization that seeks to guarantee political parity and economic growth for Latinas through leadership, advocacy, and education. According to the institution's website, HOPE ® “has focused on empowering our communities through advocacy, Latina leadership training, and increasing knowledge on the contributions Latinas have made to advance the status of women for the past 30 years. To date, HOPE’s innovative programming has served 58,000 Latinas and touched the lives of several thousand more through our advocacy efforts”. Hope's advisory board includes representatives of the following organizations and/or companies: 360 Agency, City National Bank, NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises, TELACU, Southwest Airlines, Almond Alliance of California, SoCalGas, NALEO, among others, and have the following sponsors: Chevron, Southwest Airlines, Wells Fargo, California Resources Corporation, NBC Universal and Telemundo, California Teachers Association, SoCalGas, Thrivent, and The Walt Disney Company.

f) MANA, the National Latina Organization® founded in 1974, has branches in several cities in the country: Albuquerque (NM); Chester County (PA); Colorado Springs (CO); Hidalgo County (TX); Imperial Valley (CA); Kansas City (MO); Metro Denver (CO); Metro Detroit (MI); N. County San Diego (CA); North Texas (TX); Portland (OR); San Diego (CA); Savannah at Armstrong (GA); Sonoma County (CA); Texas Gulf Coast (TX), and Topeka (KS). Its objective is to represent the interests of women (youth and girls) and Latino families on issues that directly impact these people, such as those related to the areas of education, health and well-being, as well as equality, civil rights and immigration reform. According to the organization, its “values are rooted in serving the community through leadership development, educational workshops, mentoring the next generation of leaders, and building the structures to support continued Latina success. […] While our specific mission reflects our attention to women and girls, our hope is to always welcome individuals to our organization as they identify and to serve as allies to all under-recognized, and marginalized communities as we strive toward equity and inclusion for all”. MANA also counts on the support of several affiliates that constitute themselves as groups acting in favor of Latina women, in several aspects, in their communities, some of which are: Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc.; American GI Forum Women, The Circle of Latina Leadership, Adelante Mujer, Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas, Chic Chicana, Mas Mujer, 100 Hispanic Women, and LIDERAMOS.

g) Latino Women’s Initiative, provides financial and voluntary support to various local non-profit organizations. Currently, there are more than 200 members and promotes membership campaigns with the “Junior League of Houston” event, where the institutes awarded in the year present the financial collections. Among its supporters are: NBC Universal Media, H-E-B Helping Here, Center Point Energy, Houston Methodist Leading Medicine, Reliant Energy, Trini Mendenhall Foundation and Johnson Garcia LLP.

h) Afroresistance, formerly The Latin American and Caribbean Community Center (LACCC) was formed as a community organization in 2004 to address the diverse political, economic and cultural needs of the growing Latino and Caribbean populations in the United States, with special emphasis on the most marginalized: the Latino-Afro-descendant and Indigenous community. The organization has become known for working with the largest groups of economically, socially and culturally marginalized Afro-descendant immigrants and Latin Americans not only in the country, but in other parts of the world. As a strategy, the organization has different programs that pursue racial justice and, therefore, focus on three areas of action: 1) Defense: with analysis, data, and reports on a given region focused on black women in Latin America and the Caribbean; 2. International solidarity: in building an intentional, international and political movement for social justice and human rights in the Americas, and 3. Capacity building: constitution of the “Black School of Human Rights”, a human rights institute focused on Race, Gender and Immigration for Afro-descendants.

i) Latin Women in Action, Inc. (LWA), was founded in 1990 by Haydee Zambrana and other women in the Latino community who saw the need to serve Hispanic women and families in the neighborhood of Queens, establishing itself as a comprehensive social services agency for the Latino community of New York. According to the official page, “LWA offers services in immigration, education, domestic violence prevention, child abuse prevention, counseling and support, as well as referrals on other services such as mental health and aftermath counseling. […] The organization has assisted approximately 25,000 women and their families with immigration services, including helping legal residents to become citizens of the USA and helped them to register to vote.  It has assisted hundreds of schools by providing workshops on issues such as parenting, parental involvement, child abuse prevention, bullying, domestic violence, immigration and other types of abuse an individual may come across in their life. In LWA, we also advocate immigrant families as well as being aware of their rights in case an officer of the law attempts to deny their rights”. The organization states that it works closely with other service providers and government agencies, as well as other non-profit organizations.

As we can see, the social activism of Latin women is very expressive, a fact that indicates that in the coming years this greater performance means greater representation for this marginalized segment.