What the Future Holds

The impetus for this book and the study mentioned was the author's intention to try to close a gap in scholarship related to Hispanic women's experiences and their positions of leadership in higher education. The existing literature did not offer ample information about Hispanic women who have achieved professional success in leadership roles. This chapter contains the preliminary findings that have already been shared in diversity conferences, recommendations, reflections from colleagues who are administrators, professors, and students as a way to address this subject. The author believes information must continue to be shared in order for more voices to arise and whom we can encourage while empowering other Hispanic women/Latinas. It is important to promote support for future strategic efforts among college students, faculty, and diversity fellows from different organizations and community partners across the nation.

My Skin Color Is Not Mi Pecado

This chapter revealed itself as the title of the author's dissertation because of the binary mentality that thrives throughout our country and in our personal experience. On the author's first days after arriving in the United States, she was asked where she had her tanning done. She had never heard such a thing while she was growing up in Mexico nor did she think that she had dark skin because she had always considered herself Blanca/White. It did not mean that during her early twenties she could not see color, just that appearances did not matter as much as the treatment toward her. She was raised by those whose skin color also caused them to be labeled here in the United States as Moreno/Black. The ones who raised her were a Mexican medical pastor and a Güera/White Mexican, nurse, and housewife, and they referred to her, their precious youngster, simply as Brown or—as she likes to call her skin tone—café con leche/milk with coffee. The participants in the study also related that they have faced microaggressions and—in some instances—their professional tenure was in jeopardy.

Leadership Models

Leaders gain followers because they have various traits, concepts, and skills that appeal to followers. The history of leadership through the centuries has been dominated by men who have led because of their physical characteristics, personal charisma, fast wit, or their ability to relate to their followers. Do women have the same traits? Indeed! However, as the history briefly described and as this chapter will point out, it is primarily men who have been allowed to influence and impact their countries, communities, and institutions. Their leadership has, in fact, been based on and perpetuated by a hierarchical society where most women have not had a chance to control or even advance in the pre-established structures. Only a few Hispanic women/Latinas have been able to reach those positions and who should be proud of giving other women a glimpse into a way that they can break this cycle that has lasted for hundreds and thousands of years. These women leaders are now opening Hispanic women's and Latinas' pathways into higher education.

¿Que Estoy Loca? –– Crazy?

Mental health does not discriminate against race, color, gender, or religion. Unfortunately, anyone can experience symptoms of mental distress or illness at some point of their lives. The National Alliance of Mental Illness acknowledged that there exists a stigma among Latinos associated with mental health issues. They are ashamed to be seen as loco/crazy or débil/weak. Through the process of collecting data for my study, several participants shared that they have suffered from severe stress in the process of achieving tenure or securing a full-time position in their journey in academe. The symptoms of stress (emotional tension), depression (despondency and dejection), and ultimately, burnout (emotional, physical, and mental fatigue from prolonged stress) have, in many cases, caused setbacks in careers or health issues. This chapter will present the characteristics of stress, depression, and burnout, which are some of the socio-emotional symptoms of mental health problems. The purpose will be to create awareness about them and to point out the importance of seeking help if a person experiences any of these symptoms, especially Latinas in higher education institutions.

Levers

This chapter will present personal levers, which are family and spirituality, and the professional levers, which include mentoring in relation to the academic funnel of gender and ethnic bias, as well why it is important comprehend the cultural impact unto the journey to leadership. Participants addressed each one of the levers in their journey in higher education. Only a few Latinas reach leadership positions in organizations in the United States, despite their increasing interest in obtaining advanced college degrees. This issue is especially glaring in higher education, as the United States becomes increasingly diverse through the infusion of new immigrants. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report from 2013 noted that 51.6% of women between the ages 25 and 29 were in a management, business, or financial operation occupation; and 8.7% of those women were Latinas. In the same way, only small numbers of Hispanic women reach senior leadership positions.

Influence of Mexicanas Americanas

Mexican American culture did not originate in one place or even in one country. The culture originated in different regions of the country as the people have moved from place to place, combining the culture of one group with the culture of another as they adapted to a new life. Mexican influences include all their values related to ethics, language, religion, and family; all these make them stand out from the main culture and their influences can be traced from the 1500s, despite the fact that their influence on the history of the United States is deliberately kept vague in textbooks. However, in regard to their religious beliefs, legacy in education, effect on the armed forces, and national organizations, their footprints in the path of our history are clear and easy to read. Their great Mayan, Aztec, Olmeca, and Chichimeca cultures have been remembered and honored and continue to function in their colorful traditions. Government, written history, education, and public media have led the majority of U.S. citizens to believe that Mexican Americans have taken advantage of this country, but they have failed to acknowledge the true history behind the Mexican presence in this country. In this chapter, the author will share the Mexican influence (on food, religion and spirituality education, colonialism to World War II, and the Armed Forces) in the United States, but most importantly, the author will point out the influence of Mexican women/Mexicanas or Chicanas in this country. The chronological overview of Mexicanas is divided into five periods, starting from where they were first settled in the Southwest, then in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

Jefa o Profesora

Is a winner mentality acceptable? This chapter will present a brief description of a winner mentality, opportunity gap, and the good, the bad, and the perplexity of the educational pipeline for Latinos. Hispanic women/Latinas in higher education have been affected or have benefited during the process of entering institutions into higher education by the recruitment, retention, and promotion of the organizations. As a growing and developing society where income is related with access to education and job opportunities, Hispanic students in the United States have seen how different their educational outcomes are from their White classmates. Overcoming every step of the way many have become Jefa/Supervisor and others Profesora/Professor by exercising positive human interaction while understanding institutional hierarchies and innovating ways to work the system.

Overcoming Barriers

After a childhood of limited educational opportunities, lack of proportional representation, along with social stigmas in addition to the institutional barriers, Latinas and Hispanic women who overcame them all to acquire a professional degree still have to deal with the lack of recruitment, retention, and opportunities for promotion in employment within higher educational institutions. Because of the reality of skin color, heavy accent, and the historical White male middle class, institutions throughout the social system have created barriers for Hispanic women/Latinas, barriers that continue to prevent them from holding a full-time or attaining a tenured position in academe. The following sections will describe each of the barriers that impede Hispanic women in their advancement in educational institutions. The author will address how an invisible barrier, or glass ceiling, concrete ceiling or concrete wall, labyrinth, sticky floor, gated community, female androgynous behavior, and Jezebel stereotypes prevent women from achieving leadership positions in the academic profession—although a few do make it. For those who do become leaders, the questions become, “How did they do it?” “What barriers did they overcome and what supports enabled them to succeed?”

Influence of Afro-Latinas

For many Afro-Latinos, their journey began in the southeast then moved up to the East Coast and to the rest of the country. Recounting their forced settlement in the Caribbean and the United States may take many years of research, especially when it came to writing every single aspect of their history, ethnic backgrounds, and their locations which have been placed in a hyphenated “box.” Historically, Africans in the United States have struggled with the binary mentality. Now Brown Latinos have joined the group, thus creating a dynamic combination even while voices rise. Food, music, holidays, customs, and spirituality have been carried through the centuries. The influence of Afro-Latinos on gender roles and expectations during the diaspora and an overview of the chronology of Afro-Latinas are divided in this chapter into two sections starting from where their settlement is recorded in the Southeast and following their movement to the Northeast of the United States.

Mi Lengua Madre

This chapter will examine the effects of language development among Hispanic women and how such learning is shaped by multicultural and bilingual practices while navigating institutions of higher education. Unfortunately, new immigrants have been discouraged from using their native tongue and stop teaching it to their children; it is argued that it might create confusion if the child is not exclusively immersed in the new culture and language. Much of the research has been focused on the sociological aspect of the acquisition of English rather than on the value of maintaining their mother tongue or on the importance of a simultaneous development of a diversified sociolinguistic fund of knowledge. Due to the fact that the dominant language in the United States is English in its most important sectors—government, corporations, education, hospitals—it is not surprising that the focus is on English acquisition rather than other-language maintenance. Pew Research reported that 95% of Hispanics who continue speaking Spanish at home and those who are first-born generation indicated that it is to them important that future generations learn their mother tongue.