Wise Latina Mania!

Last Friday I attended the National Hispana Leadership Institute's Empowerment Conference. Teresa Puente did a great job summarizing the day's events. The turnout was far smaller than I would have expected, but in the end, it was perfect. We went thru 2 workshops that couldn't have occured with a full ballroom of Latinas. I have to admit that it was a bit odd to walk into a room and have about four people tell me congrats for being in Crains the week before.

The day was great and I got to meet and reconnect with Latinas in Chicago. We really do need more chances to gather like that.

I even picked up my first "wise latina" shirt from the Wise Latina Project. I say first because I still need to grab one that says "I trust wise latinas" and maybe one of a few others I've run across.

Here are a few of the things I learned on Friday:

• Latinas make LESS today than the average woman made in 1960 compared to the average man. And we have only gained 5 cents in almost 50 years.
  In 1960, women made 60 cents to a man's dollar, Latinas 54 cents
  Today, women make 78 cents, Latinas 59 cents
• The NHLI Executive Leadership Training program is very competitive (yes, I've thought of applying, but it's also very expensive) and State Farm has sent 14 women, the most of any company.
• The new Ford Taurus is designed by a Latina
• Women own 70% of small businesses in the world
• Women are 46.5% of the US labor force, 12% of them are Latinas
• 50.8% of employed women are in management, 3.6% of them are Latinas
• In the 2008 election there were 69M voters, 6.2M were Latinas (54% of the total Hispanic/Latino vote)
• Despite being a political force, we are not reflected in political power positions:
  * US Senate has 17 women, ZERO Latinas
  * US House has 73 women, 6 Latinas
  * 50 Governors, 8 women, ZERO Latinas
  * 21 Cabinet members, 8 women, 1 Latina
• Women's spending "power" is $7 trillion, Latinas $1 trillion
  * And why don't more companies ask Latinas to review their products?
  

There's more to tell ya, but I gotta cut this short for tonight.