Sonia Sotomayor is the first and only Latina Supreme Court of the United States associate justice. (Photo by Hispanic Heritage Foundation.)

This month must be about more than the annual nod to Hispanic Heritage awareness limited to applause for contributions from icons such as Frida Kahlo and .popular culture giants such as Selena Gomez. Not looking deeper, the growth achieved by so many historically and currently remains invisible.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson initiated a week to honor the influence and legacies in the arts and culture of Americans with heritage origins in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. President Ronald Reagan turned it into a month celebrated from September 15 through October 15 by law, inaugurating Hispanic Heritage Awareness Month.

Fifty-two years after the official recognition of the Latinx cultural influences in art, architecture, culture, ethnography, poetry, literature, music, performing arts, economics, government, politics and law, Take The Lead this week is examining the expansion and growth of the political and economic power of Latinas in the U.S. as the need for more effective representation of Brown communities grows in this country on critical issues.

“@Takeleadwomen this week is examining the growth of the political and economic power of #Latinas in the U.S. as the need for more effective #representation of Brown communities grows in this country on critical issues. ”

In July, the House of Representatives passed the National Museum of the American Latino Act with 295 cosponsors, including 61 Republicans, and awaits a response from the Senate, according to Spectrum News. This would prompt the creation of the proposed $300 million Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in Washington, D.C..

“Former Florida Republican Congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen played a vital role in the museums’ proposal,” Spectrum News reports. She as the first Cuban American and Latina ever elected to Congress in 1989.

“We don’t have a very big family, but we have a very close-knit family,” she told Spectrum News.

This year, MSNBC reports, is the largest ever contingent of Latinas running for office.

“According to the Center for American Women and Politics, a record 75 Latinas are major-party Congressional candidates. MSNBC's Alicia Menendez is joined by three women running for Congress who are part of the First Latinas initiative by the Latino Victory Fund; attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez, who stands to become the first Latina elected to represent New Mexico's 3rd district, Candace Valenzuela, a candidate for Texas' 24th congressional district and potentially the first Afro-Latina to be elected to Congress, and Georgette Gómez, a candidate for California's 53rd congressional district and potentially the first LGBTQ Latina in Congress,” MSNBC reports.

While the policymakers of Washington, D.C. have not historically included Latinas, for 11 years, Sonia Maria Sotomayor has served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Nominated by President Barack Obama, she is the first Hispanic and Latina member of the Court.

“While the policymakers of Washington, D.C. have not historically included Latinas, for 11 years Sonia Maria Sotomayor has served as Associate Justice of the #SCOTUS. #LatinaPower #womeninpolitics”

“U.S. Latinos, our country's largest, youngest and fastest-growing cohort, represent nearly 1 in 5 Americans, nearly 1 in 4 millennials, nearly 1 in 3 alphas, and account for over $2.3 trillion in GDP, making it the 8th largest economy in the world if it were a stand-alone country,” according to L’Attutude.

To gain more leverage in policymaking, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders this month released its Latino Economic Agenda (LEA): A Latino Perspective on US Domestic Economic Policy. “This comprehensive document outlines policy recommendations that will advance the economic mobility of the US Latino population - a critical component in the recovery and sustained vitality of the overall economy,” according to the release.

“To gain more leverage in policymaking, the @NALCAB this month released its Latino Economic Agenda (LEA): A Latino Perspective on US Domestic Economic Policy. #LatinoEconomicEngine”

The Latino Economic Agenda reports, “Latinos exhibit high rates of entrepreneurship and Latino-owned businesses have enormous potential for greater job creation. The Stanford Graduate School of Business’ Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative published the 2018 Latino Entrepreneurship Gap Report, which indicates that Latinos are over-represented among startups but make up only 5% of employer businesses with more than $1 million in annual revenue.”

Additionally, “Latinos own 350,000 employer businesses in the U.S. creating nearly 3 million American jobs, and driving a GDP of more than $2 trillion. In an economy that relies on consumer spending, Latino consumers are a source of economic stability. Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nielsen, and Statista illustrates that Hispanic consumer spending is a critical element of overall US economic activity. According to Statista, Hispanic buying power is expected to increase to $1.7 trillion by 2020.”

Yet, the management of those companies is predominantly in the hands of Latinx men, not women.

“In the U.S., management of Latino owned businesses is predominantly in the hands of Latinx men, not women. #parity #femaleentrepreneurs #latino #owned”

Business Insider reports, “For every 100 men promoted to management from 2018 to 2019, only 68 Latina women were promoted, and only 58 Black women were, per research by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org.”

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CNBC reports that leadership in the C-suite has long excluded Latinas. “Right now, women make up less than 8% of the leaders on the Fortune 500 list, and none of those women are Black or Latina. When looking at the overall C-suite, women comprise only a fifth of these roles despite making up nearly half of the entry-level workforce.”

“Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst, a global nonprofit that works to accelerate women into leadership positions, told CNBC Make It earlier this year that though we’ve seen an ‘incremental victory’ in the increased number of women running Fortune 500 firms, there is still much more work that needs to be done to ‘create more equitable, inclusive and fulfilling opportunities and workplaces for everyone.’”

Yet, the only Latina CEO of a Fortune 500 company is no longer at the helm. PG&E Corp. announced that CEO Geisha Williams was stepping down.

The Conversation reports, “Many organizations have prioritized workplace equality and access to high-paying, executive level jobs for minority groups in recent years. Several 2020 presidential candidates are putting forward plans to increase minority executive positions by diversifying corporate boards, punishing companies with poor diversity track records and increasing funding for minority-led business institutions.”

The researchers continue, “However, according to our own 2019 analysis, white men still hold the majority of executive positions such as CEOs, management directors and financial officers. As economic and communication scholars, we looked at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission employment data for executives at large and mid-sized companies. Our analysis shows that white men sit in 85% of these high-paying boardroom positions while representing only 38% of the U.S. workforce.”

Latino USA reports, “As of 2019, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. at 18.3%. Statistics from 2017 show that Hispanics make up 17% of the labor force. However, they occupy only 4.3% of executive positions in the U.S. Hispanic representation is roughly equal to that of black executives and somewhat lower than Asian American executives. The gap between labor force and executive representation is wider among Hispanics than any other group.”

According to Latino USA., “To make change Hispanic workers need to be employed in positions that feed into to the highest company levels. Currently, 8% of all managerial and 6% of all professional positions in the U.S. are Hispanic, far below their labor market share of 17%.”

There is good news concerning the growth of Latinx entrepreneurship.

Business Wire reports, “Latino Business Action Network/Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, CEO Mark Madrid, said, “Over the last ten years, Latinas and Latinos are starting businesses faster than any other group in the U.S. It is an American economic imperative to empower and elevate them. This is our collective opportunity to show fellow Americans, through actions—and not just words—just how much we appreciate our Hispanic business owners across our 50 states and Puerto Rico.”

Business Wire reports, “Latino entrepreneurs are starting businesses faster than any other group, driving $700 billion into the U.S. economy annually, according to a Stanford study. Unidos US projects that Hispanics, the youngest and largest minority in America, will account for about 20% of the U.S. workforce in five years. With a population expected to almost double to 111 million by 2060, Latino consumers currently represent $1.7 trillion in buying power and expected to continue growing over the next two decades.”

“We are at a critical juncture for the well-being of Latino entrepreneurship,” María Samaniego, senior program manager at The Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program, told Business Wire. “Owning one in four of all new U.S. businesses, Latinos were starting new companies at more than twice the rate of other groups combined.

Looking at the levels of growth and the rise of Latina entrepreneurship in American businesses, there must be a new way of framing the disparities in leadership numbers and representation.

“Looking at the levels of growth and the rise of #Latina #entrepreneurship in American businesses, there must be a new way of framing the disparities in #leadership numbers and representation. ”

According to the Brookings Institute, “It is time to abandon the skills gap narrative. It treats labor markets as transactional and assumes hiring processes are objective with regard to how employers recruit, sort, and assess the value of candidates. It ignores social dynamics such as race, class, age, and gender bias in the hiring process. Due to racial segregation and stunted access to professional networks, many talented Black, Latino or Hispanic, and Indigenous workers never get a real opportunity to compete for key jobs in the emerging economy.”

What is helpful, particularly during Hispanic Heritage Awareness Month, is to be aware of how the gap can be narrowed or eliminated.

“What is helpful, particularly during #HispanicHeritageAwarenessMonth, is to be aware of how the #opportunitygap can be narrowed or eliminated. ”

“Instead of focusing on the skills gap, we argue that it’s time to focus on closing the opportunity gap—not only for the benefit of individuals who have been shut out of the labor market, but for society as a whole,” according to the Brookings Institute. “Cultivating and investing in diverse talent can unleash regional innovation, economic growth, and community well-being. Investing more equally in our ‘lost Einsteins,’ scholars have estimated, would likely quadruple the rate of innovation in the U.S.”

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com

Is Awareness Enough? Economic, Political Growth 52 Years After Hispanic Heritage Launch

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