Picture a woman in a leadership role and you likely won’t envision anyone that looks like me. There have only been two Latina CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies and Latinas make up only 2% - 3% of elected officials.
I’m a cisgender, heterosexual, millennial Latina-American woman from a multiracial and multicultural background. My journey to serving as a director for a psychology training program doesn’t surprise me as much as it may surprise others. As a young girl raised alongside three brothers, I was exposed to a different set of rules and expectations, (mis)guided by deeply entrenched cultural and gender stereotypes. A sense of justice aroused within me during those early childhood experiences, and I often pushed myself to do anything the boys in my life were allowed to do. While the messages imparted to me and my brothers did not always align, I appreciated that my father told all of us to seek the highest degree in a field we loved, to become independent, and to strive to be to able support ourselves. I became the first female in my family to graduate from college, and then graduate school.
I’m in a female dominated healthcare industry, where women make up 69% of the psychology workforce. Latinas in psychology make up roughly 7.95% of the active psychologist community. As I began promoting to a leadership position in 2016, I wondered if I was lucky to be where I was, and, statistically, I was. Latinas make up 16.4% of the female population. Yet, they only comprise 4.4% of managers and 3.2% of professionals.
As a Latina in a professional setting and in a leadership role, I am responsible for so much, and yet I have not felt very empowered to properly execute my roles and responsibilities. It has been hard to advocate for myself in order to advocate for the program. Why? Because I get the message that I should be grateful for even being here. Pointing out areas for growth or suggesting ways to improve a process or system can be interpreted as being ungrateful, unsatisfied, or even being “feisty” in my approach. Instead, I’m encouraged to shift my perspective to be more in line with those who benefit from maintaining the status quo.
To me, goals for improving diversity are not sufficient alone, not without earnest efforts to promote equity and inclusion. Diversity is being invited to the party. It’s a necessary first step, but it’s important to feel included and not like an outsider who is “lucky” just to be there. The messages about my worth haven’t always been subtle. It’s hard to shake the memory of an older, White female supervisor telling me, “I’ve opened every door for you, and this is how you repay me,” after I raised significant concerns to her and her supervisors. Speaking truth to power took courage - and it also took active resistance of my social conditioning, which was to be deferential to my elders and avoid addressing problems head on.
With this Women’s History Month, I am reflecting on the statement, “Empowered women empower women.” Women must lift each other up. The messages given to me - directly and indirectly - carry years of gender inequality. But we can decide what messages we pass down to future generations. While I strive to empower all my trainees, my conversations look different for some. For my trainees of color, I want them to be seen and appreciated. I try to give them a voice and see their worth. I create spaces for them to develop trust and move from fear and perfectionism to be their genuine, authentic selves. Sometimes this is the first time they are receiving these messages. It is important for them to know they earned and deserve their seat at the table. They belong and have great things to contribute when they’re invited to the party. If any of them have goals to develop as a leader, I want to empower them to develop the skills to become the host of the party someday.
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