According to the U.S. Department of Labor, approximately 55.3 percent of Latinas in the U.S. are part of the labor force. Although that number is slightly lower than women of other ethnicities and races, Latinas have traditionally comprised a disproportionately high percentage of women in service and labor jobs. However, a recent study from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Women of Color: Their Employment in the Private Sector,” reports that Latinas have seen the most dramatic improvement over the last decade.

Antonia Davila	Gabriela Tagliavini	The Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson, CDS

At 4.7 percent of the workforce, Latinas’ growth rate exceeded 100 percent and the number of Latina officials and managers more than doubled. As this occurs, Latinas are more commonly entering nontraditional career fields.
It is undeniable that the number of Latinas and Latinos in the country is growing, and more companies are seeking to cater to the expanding market – which means they are hiring more Latina employees to reflect the customer base. Latinas, too, have been attaining higher education and recognizing increasing opportunities for themselves.
“We’re at a time when Latinas are no longer willing to accept the traditional roles,” says Edna Gravenhorst, author of Ay, Mija! Why Do You Want to be an Engineer? “They are now standing up to the familia and to society.” During research for her book, Gravenhorst encountered a number of gutsy Latinas who worked in a variety of engineering careers. A common thread she discovered among the women was that they had all faced and overcome hardship in their early years – whether it was economic difficulties, death of a family member or resistance to their decisions to follow a nontraditional path of being only a wife and mother. The other similarity the women had was motivation: nothing stopped them from fulfilling their dreams. They held their heads high despite what anyone said, found a strong support system including family, friends and mentors, and worked hard.
“Latinas are intelligent, creative and hard-working. We know that we have the same entitlement to the American dream as anyone else,” Gravenhorst says. “[These careers] give a good living, an equal voice in politics and economics, and independence. Besides the money, Latinas also want…the same prestige and respect that men have taken for granted. Latinas are realizing that we need to leave our footprint in American history and open doors.” LATINA Style talked to a few women who are doing just that.

Name: Antonia Davila
Occupation: Regional Sales Coordinator for the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (AFLAC)
Her Story: Davila grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where the population is nearly 90 percent Latino. “I came from humble beginnings. My grandmother was so poor, but so educated in her own way and so proud,” Davila recalls. Her grandmother encouraged Davila to pursue educational opportunities that had not been available previously, and Davila earned a law degree.
As if that wasn’t breaking the mold enough at the time, she practiced law for a few years and then entered the traditionally male-dominated field of insurance sales. When she started working for AFLAC, a company she praises for the opportunities it has afforded her, she was one of few Hispanics, much less Hispanic women. “In the beginning, I was very naïve,” she says. “I didn’t see any obstacles. Then I went into a meeting one day and I was asked, ‘Do Hispanics buy insurance?’ That was eye-opening to me. Once someone told me, ‘We don’t like Mexicans.’ I told them to get out of the Valley.”
None of it phased her. “If I saw that an Anglo person was succeeding, I thought, Why couldn’t I succeed, too?”
Davila says her motivations were helping non-English speakers whom she saw as intimidated by agents who were selling them products they didn’t fully understand and to help her husband support the family. But, as far as her success, “determination was key,” she says.
Words of Wisdom: “Follow your dreams. As long as it comes from the heart, have determination and you will make it.”

Name: Gabriela Tagliavini
Occupation: Writer/Director
Her Story: Tagiliavini grew up with a passion for the arts. During her childhood – spent between her native Argentina, Mexico and the United States – she encountered different forms of art and media that made a strong impression. “I chose to pursue film because I like different expressions of art, and film is kind of like a paella of art – it combines many different kinds,” Tagliavini explains.
Her accountant father and therapist mother were always supportive, she says, but they had some reservations about her decision. “They were concerned that art doesn’t make money – they were right – but they wanted me to be happy,” Tagliavini says.
And happy she is. Tagliavini earned a bachelor’s degree in film directing and a master’s degree in screenwriting from the prestigious American Film Institute. Her hard work and love for her field have led her to direct short films, commercials and television pilots and to author two novels and write for CNN. Her accolades include the title of Best Director at three film festivals, including the New York Independent Film Festival, and her film, Ladies’ Night, distributed by Disney/Buena Vista, was Mexico’s top box office movie in 2004.
Tagliavini is currently working on the script of Devil May Care with Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria and on the film adaptation of the best selling book The Anatomist.
Words of Wisdom: “First you have to motivate yourself. Successful people are those who never give up. Your drive is your best friend, or you can be your own worst enemy.”

Name: The Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson, CDS
Occupation: Coordinator for Hispanic Ministry for The Guadalupe Art Program
Her Story: Moreno Richardson remembers accompanying her priest uncle on his ministry in the fields when she was a child in the Santa Clara, California, area. “I loved to go out with him,” she says. “There was just something in my heart. But being a girl, I couldn’t even be an ‘altar boy’ [in the Catholic church]. I never believed being a priest was a possibility.”
Even when she joined the Episcopal church after being raised Roman Catholic, Moreno Richardson did not expect her dream to come true. “I initially went to the Episcopal church because everything about the [practice] of the religion is the same. The misa is the same; we have the virgen. We just don’t recognize the Pope as the head of the church and we do ordain women. It is more inclusive and more progressive,” she recalls. Then one day, during a church group session, Moreno Richardson mentioned that she had always wanted to be a priest. “The priest that was there said, ‘Let’s talk about that.’ I said, ‘Really?’ I still didn’t believe it!”
With the support and encouragement she needed, she began to take the steps to be ordained. Like most Latinas who have chosen a path outside what is expected of them, Moreno Richardson encountered some dismay and even discouragement. Still, Moreno Richardson continued her studies, and she became the first Latina priest in the San Diego diocese.
The Episcopal church has been ordaining women for only thirty years, and there is room for growth, says Moreno Richardson. Within the Latino culture, she says, some people still just find the concept of female priests unacceptable. From studies in feminist theology and her experiences, such as working with gang members, “I know that there are things I can’t change. Some of it is a generational thing. I just can’t get stuck there. I have to follow my own vision and dream. There are other areas where, hopefully, things will change,” Moreno Richardson says.
For example, she uses her work with the Guadalupe Art Program to educate young girls about opportunities available to them. “I want them to understand that they are living in a time that is so special and so different for women, and I want them to take advantage of that and of all the opportunities available to them,” she says.
Words of Wisdom: “Surround yourself with people who will support the dream. Ask for help. Hold onto those dreams, and make a plan for them. A dream is like a plant that you have to support and nurture.”