8 Latinas Every American Woman Should Thank

*I’m sure there are many more than eight, and that many of you could compile lists of your own. But this is a good list to start. VL


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By Tanisha Love Ramirez, Huffington Post Latino Voices

Save for International Women’s Day, it’s rare to hear or read anything about the ways in which Latinas have impacted women’s lives both in the U.S. and worldwide. Why is that? Was it decided somewhere along the way that women of color had their own sheroes — heroines who fought for some odd form of equality that is not, in fact, “for all” but just for them? It sometimes feels like that’s the case.

Yet while Latinas have benefited from all of the hard work and advocacy demonstrated by non-Latina feminists, civil rights leaders and authors, all Americans have benefited greatly from the advocacy and general badassery demonstrated by Latinas in America.

So in the name of sisterhood and all that jazz, here are some of our heroes, because, honestly, whether you’re a non-Latina woman or a man or whatever, they’re your heroines, too.

Here are 8 (to name only a few) Latinas who’ve changed the ways in which we all view our bodies, sex, race and the world. You’re welcome!

Dolores Huerta, Civil Rights Activist

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Dolores Huerta [By Patrick Giblin/Flickr]
Dolores Huerta started advocating for women’s rights following a brutal attack sustained during a peaceful and lawful protest of the policies of then-president George H.W. Bush in 1988. For two years, the award-winning civil rights activist and labor leader toured the country on behalf of the Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the year 2000 Campaign. In 2002, Huerta founded the aptly named Dolores Huerta Foundation, an organization that offers members programs such as the “Weaves Movements Together,” an initiative dedicated to raising awareness of women’s rights and gay rights, as well as immigrant rights and labor rights.

Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice

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Sonia Sotomayor [By Commonwealth Club/Flickr]
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has sworn to protect and uphold the law for all United States citizens, not just Latinos. In her career so far, Sotomayor has rendered rulings in cases involving everything from Miranda rights violations to the protection of freedom of speech. In July 2014, she voted against an injunction that would allow Wheaton College some exemption from complying with Affordable Care Act’s mandate on contraception.

Vilma Socorro Martinez, Attorney

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Vilma Martinez [By Embajada de EEUU en la Argentina/Flickr]
We can, in part, thank Vilma Socorro Martinez Affirmative Action. Martinez served as the attorney for the petitioner in the case of  Griggs v. Duke Power Company, a landmark case that ultimately went before the U.S. Supreme Court, where it became the catalyst for the doctrine of affirmative action. The Griggs case brought to the Court’s attention that even if a company hired candidates solely on the basis of their training — and it could be proven that minorities had in the past faced obstacles to receiving such training — then the training requirements for the job were discriminatory. Partly in response to the Griggs case, the federal government mandated a nationwide policy of affirmative action in 1972.

Click HERE to read he rest of the list.

This article was otiginally published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.


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