The Cost of Being Latina Within the Workplace

WASHINGTON, DC – Walker’s Legacy, a professional collective committed to the empowerment of women of color in business and entrepreneurship, recognizes Latina’s Equal Pay Day. This segment of women experiences the widest pay gap and earns significantly less than their White, non-Hispanic female and male counterparts. While nationally women earn 77 cents to every man’s dollar, Latinas earn just  55 cents.

In other words, if the pay gap were eliminated, on average a Latina working full-time, year-round would have 194 more weeks of food for her family or 27 more months of rent. These figures make clear the negative effects of race-and-gender-biased pay.

Factors such as occupation and education level greatly contribute to the substantial disparity among this group of women. Research shows that Latinas make up one-third of the service industry, but  just  1 percent of jobs in engineering and computer science, two of the highest paying industries in STEM. Additionally, Latinas must obtain a bachelor’s degree or more before their typical wages exceed those of white, non-Hispanic men without a bachelor’s degree.

Despite these substantial realities, Latinas and Hispanic women are among the most promising segment of entrepreneurs.

More specifically:

Latinas own 36% of all Latino-owned firms, employ 20% of the workers employed by Latino-owned firms, and contribute 16% of the revenue generated by Latino-owned businesses.

Over the past 17 years, the number of  Latina-owned firms has more than tripled (up 206%), employment has risen 85% and revenues have more than doubled (up 160%).

While 11% of women-owned firms are owned by Latinas nationally, Latinas comprise the greatest share of all women-owned firms in New Mexico (29%), Texas (25%), Florida (24%) and California (20%)

“Latina entrepreneurship is crucial to the closing of this pay gap and the future success of our job market and economy,” said Natalie M. Cofield, Founder and CEO of Walker’s Legacy. “This community of creatives, innovators, and problem-solvers are disproportionately affected by pay discrimination despite their advances in business and education. We understand that this is unacceptable, and today recognize the charge ensure economic equity among these women”

The work of Walker’s Legacy and the Walker’s Legacy Foundation focuses on understanding and addressing these statistics by creating an ecosystem of support, resources and business education for Latina and other multicultural women. Through localized and online networks, educational content, and targeted programming, Walker’s Legacy and its Foundation engages and empowers thousands of women of color in business.

Read the Walker’s Legacy October list highlighting  12 Leading Latinas in Business and Beyond and more about initiatives for enterprising women of color at www.walkerslegacy.com.