Latinas in the U.S. were among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. An AAUW research project documents the health and economic repercussions — and outlines policy priorities to aid in the recovery.
You can access AAUW’s full report HERE.
The success of Latinas and that of the United States are inextricably linked. With a population hovering near 30 million, Latinas are both a vital base of support for the U.S. economy and—as we saw in the 2020 presidential election—critically influential as voters. But even though their contributions boost the national economy, many see little return for their work. More than half of Latinas are second-, third- and fourth generation Americans, yet deeply rooted structural inequities in education, health and the economy limit the ability of Latinas to build generational wealth.
Latinas are graduating from high school and college in increasing numbers, yet they are still denied access to high-quality educational opportunities. Latinos as a whole contributed $2.6 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2019, yet Latinas still earn 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men. COVID-19 has had a particularly devastating impact on Latinas: 21% of Latinas lost jobs in the early days of the pandemic, nearly a quarter of Latinas do not have access to health insurance and only 16% have the opportunity to work from home.
Download the Factsheet HERE.
Latinas account for 18% of the U.S. female population and are a critical base of support to the U.S. economy. They are the youngest female population group in the country, with a median age of 30 and a labor force participation rate that reached 61% in 2020 at the beginning
of the pandemic. But they are also a population that has been hit particularly hard by the economic and health crises of the past year
Download AAUW’s Policy Recommendations HERE.