Latinas have come a long way, baby, but it is still a long and winding road.
OK, enough with the clichés.
Latinas in political office aren't numerous enough yet to have become a cliché or even a stereotype.
But their numbers have been growing over the past decade, some of them laboring quietly and persevering in public service. And they've finally caught the eyes of local researchers.
"Chicanas have never been given the credit they deserve," said José Angel Gutiérrez, history professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, who began collecting and archiving videotaped interviews of leading Latino Texans about 10 years ago.
"And given that in two or three decades, with all the numbers of women in higher education indicating that we're going to be a society that is woman-led, it's about time we started listening to these voices," Dr. Gutiérrez said.
More than two dozen of these voices are documented in a new book, Chicanas in Charge: Texas Women in the Public Arena, co-authored by Dr. Gutiérrez; Sonia Noyola, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin; and Michelle Meléndez, a former journalist and current community services director at St. Joseph Community Health in Albuquerque, N.M.
Some of them are well-known locally, such as Anita Martinez Nañez, Dallas' first Hispanic City Council member; and Lupe Valdez, Dallas County's first gay Hispanic sheriff.
Others have worked behind the scenes, such as Gloria De León, co-founder of the National Hispanic Institute, which prepares Latino college students to be leaders.
"They're all unique, and they all have a story to tell," Dr. Gutiérrez said.
The public can hear some of their stories when 10 of the women in the book discuss their roles as either political trailblazers or torchbearers at the annual conference of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education next week.
Their panel discussion at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday will kick off the four-day conference at the Wyndham Dallas North hotel, 4801 LBJ Freeway, near the Galleria.
TACHE has regular forums for Chicanos/Latinos in higher education to discuss issues and work on solutions confronting Latinos in higher education.
Among the speakers featured at the conference this year will be state demographer Steve Murdock; Raymund Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner; and Arturo Madrid, humanities professor at Trinity University and founding president of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute.
The Wednesday panel discussion featuring the Latina leaders will focus on their paths to power, which have not always been easy.
And it still isn't, says Diana Flores, a Dallas County Community College District trustee since 1996.
She said media and business groups tend to ignore Latinas when they run for office.
"I've never been approached by the Greater Dallas Chamber or the Dallas Citizens Council or any business group on any initiative that has to do with education or the county," she said. "We're an important voice, but we're overlooked. So we end up feeling that we have to raise our voices."
She said business community leaders busily court Dallas school district trustees, but "they haven't made the jump yet to community colleges" – an important link in developing a skilled workforce in North Texas.
But she's optimistic about Latina college students, who she says far outnumber Latino men in college and are more involved than previous generations.
"It's not a question anymore of whether we should get involved or not," she said. "Rather, it's a question of how can we get involved.
"And that's going to make the difference."
