Probably, the most important social advancement this country has had in the last century is related to the Women’s Agenda. Even before the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, that gave them the right to vote, American women have been the most dynamic and energetic segment of the U.S. demographics.
Nowadays American women are professionals and independent; conscious of their social and sexual choices In the school, they do better than men. Women represent 51% of the nation’s PhDs, 51% of business school applicants and 67 % of college graduates.
In the economy, female executives do as well as their best male colleagues, although for less money yet. Several books have been written about this topic, among them Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean Inn: Women, Work and the Will to Lead”, is a call to end the disparity between men and women at the workplace, and these ideas permeates the newcomers too.
In politics we can say women are the backbone of the Democratic Party and soon enough they could vote for the first female President in the country’s history.
There is virtually no field where women do not have a strong and ever increasing presence.
For an immigrant, perhaps the most impressive experience related with how mainstream America works, is how relevant are the roles American women play everywhere. From a world where a young couple used to pray for their newborn to be a boy and not a girl because “life is still easier for a boy”, most newcomers can witness how the gender agenda has moved forward in this country.
Here is where the Latino community faces some of its major challenges and opportunities. Beside the stereotypes of the “hot Latina as a sexy and seductive character -the only fact related here is that they are at least one decade younger than the average non Latina women, the real story is one of many cultural barriers that they have overcome, lots of hard work and therefore, many improvements and achievements.
Considering where they come from –very often traditional families within a deep culture of machismo and discrimination against them–, U.S. Latinas integrate to the labor market better than men, they work very hard, both at home and in the workplace.
A study by the Inter American Dialogue found that immigrant women sent more money to their countries last year than men did. Thinking that they represent half of the 21.3 million of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, it’s clear that they are the biggest source of remittances- the money to support their families in their countries.
Of course Latino women are the very essence of the 10.7 million Latino families living today in the U.S. Many share the traditional values and religious principles they arrive with. Also, they want the best for their daughters, so very often they are the impulse for their family integration to their new homeland.
Latino Women still face several important challenges. The first one is to find the man who can understand the nature of the relationship they are looking for. Nowadays they are looking for completely different goals Latinas had in the countries they came from.
Other challenges are to integrate, to create opportunities in the social, economic and educational fields, always maintaining their bicultural influences
Nevertheless, what they have achieved already is humongous. Considering the influence of Latinos in this and the next generation of Americans, their life story will be, in much, the story of America’s 21st century.
May 2014
