Santa Barbara, CA (Hispanic PR Wire) August 24, 2007 — Hispanic women are the fastest-growing influence within the quickest-expanding ethnic group in the United States today.
 

The data reveals that Hispanic women wield more power than Hispanic men both in proportion in professional or managerial positions (21.4 percent vs. 14 percent of the work force, respectively) and educational achievement (60 percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2000 to Hispanics went to women).

Hispanic women also are an average of 9.8 years younger than their non-Hispanic female counterparts (30 percent are under the age of 14), and they lag in job levels and pay, with a nearly $5,000 lower median annual income.

By 2050, the number of Hispanic females in the United States will reach 48.9 million — an increase of nearly 340 percent from 1990, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. During the same time, the total U.S. female population will grow only 62 percent, to 206.6 million.

Hispanic women have begun to make significant and rapid educational gains as well: While the number of bachelor’s degrees conferred to U.S. residents increased 35 percent from 1976 to 2000, the number of bachelor’s degrees earned by Hispanic women rose 430 percent.

What do these key findings mean for the future of Hispanic women? Hispanic women will have an increasing impact on the face of the U.S. economy that cannot be ignored — especially entrepreneurial and small-business ventures. From 1997 to 2002, the number of Hispanic women-owned businesses surged 39 percent. In 2002, Hispanic women were estimated to own 470,344 firms, employing 198,000 people, and generating $24.9 billion in sales. And those numbers are projected to significantly increase: According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, the number of businesses owned by women of color or Hispanic origin is growing faster than the overall national rate for women-owned businesses.