Latinas Gaining On Latinos in Management, Survey Finds

A report to be released today by Hispanic Business magazine is adding to growing evidence that minority women are making greater gains in the managerial and professional sectors of the U.S. labor force than minority men.

Projections and analysis of U.S. Census data and exclusive population surveys, conducted by the Southwest Voter Research Institute in San Antonio, show that in 1994 Hispanic women should outnumber their male counterparts in the top job categories 50.5% to 49.5%, said the magazine’s managing editor, Hector Cantu. “It’s going to happen this year, if it hasn’t already,” he said.

In 1990, the percentages were reversed and men held the lead; 49.5% of all Hispanics--the term used by the Census Bureau--employed in professional and managerial categories were women and 50.5% were men. The growth rates of Latinas in the workplace since 1990, said Cantu, mean that Latinos are falling behind “and there’s no looking back.”

If the projections bear out, Latinas and Latinos would be joining a workplace phenomenon experienced by other minorities, particularly African Americans: Women are more easily breaking through the color barriers to advancement than men.

“I find it surprising and I know how statistics can be manipulated, but if it’s true, I think it’s wonderful and it’s about time,” said Ruth Carranza, managing editor of Intercambios, a magazine published in San Francisco for professional Latinas. “We are, after all, 51% of the population and it should be reflective,” said Carranza.

Carranza said rising to top management, as opposed to just heavily populating middle management ranks, is “still an issue for women in general. I know we’ve made headway, but there still is a limit as to where we can go from there.” That limit, often called the “glass ceiling,” is why many Latinas have formed networks to encourage and support other women to strike out on their own and form their own enterprises.

In fact, according to Hispanic Business’ report, Hispanic women will outnumber men in the top two job categories, professions and executive or managerial, because they heavily outnumber Hispanic men in the much larger pool of professionals.

Latinas still have some catching up to do in the highest job categories for executives and managers, where about 70,000 more Hispanic men than women hold jobs, Cantu said.

The growth rate of Latinas in the professions has been most pronounced in the category of mathematics and computer science, according to the magazine’s report. The number of Hispanic women in that field grew 470% from 1980 to 1990, while the number of all Hispanics, men and women, in the overall work force grew 170% in the same period.

And, like African Americans and all women, Latinas and Latinos are still very underrepresented in the top echelons of business and industry in contrast with their populations.

In 1990, Hispanics held one of every 22 executive and managerial jobs, according to Hispanic Business. That is up since 1980, when the figure was 1 of 30, but is still out of synch, proportionally. Latinos make up 10% of the U.S. population and in 1990, one of every 12 employed workers in the country was a Hispanic.

Their Rise to the Top

For the first time, the number of Hispanic* women in professions and management positions in the U.S. will exceed their male Hispanic counterparts. Some projections:

Number of female professionals: 670,000

Number of male professionals: 660,000

In 1974, the combined number working in the United States was 430,000. In 1994, that number is expected to be 1.33 million

Sources: Southwest Voter Research Institute, Hispanic Business Inc.

* Statistics gathered under the term Hispanic.

Researched by ADAM S. BAUMAN, Los Angeles Times