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Hispanic Women Make Mark on New Mexico Business
But when her husband Mario died in a trucking
accident in 2001, Villalobos said she quickly became “the brains” behind the
family business, now a sports wear and fashion shop at 518 E. Second St.
New Mexico even outranks larger Southwestern
states, Texas (ranked No. 2) and California (No. 3), in this area, although
these states have much higher Hispanic populations.
According to Mark Boyd, an economist with the
New Mexico Department of Labor in Albuquerque, it is because states such as
Texas, California and Arizona, tend to have higher numbers of immigrants who
make up much of their Hispanic populations, whereas in New Mexico, many
Hispanics were born in the United States or have lived here since they were
babies.
“Many Hispanics in New Mexico have been here
for generations. We have a lot of influential Hispanic families in the state who
have money,” Boyd said. “It takes a certain level of money to start a business
and, particularly with land owners, it gives them the ability to cash some of
that in.”
Boyd also noted that part of this increase may
be attributed to an increase in work opportunities for women overall in the
country, as well as for minorities.
Villalobos said her late husband, who gave her
the idea to open the business, was born in Mexico. Her husband ran a real estate
and trucking business at the time she opened her store. As for her, she said her
family, including her parents and grandparents, were all born in the United
States.
According to a recent report from the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Hispanic women are the fastest growing
segment of the U.S. job force.
Over the past decade, Hispanic women workers
have grown in number by more than 100 percent and now account for nearly four in
10 minority-women owned firms and represent eight percent of all private,
women-owned businesses. Hispanic women business owners also account for 30
percent, nearly one-third, of all Hispanic business owners. Most Hispanic women business owners are in service-related
industries. According to the Center for
Women’s Business Research, Hispanic women are mostly opening businesses in the
areas of transportation, communications and public utilities. This is followed
by businesses in services, construction, retail trade, manufacturing and
finance/insurance/real estate (FIRE).
Villalobos did not have any post-secondary
education when she opened her businesses, but is currently taking classes at
Clovis Community College and hopes to eventually transfer to Eastern New Mexico
University in Portales and earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
“By the time I get my degree, I will have
already had experience running a business,” Villalobos said. She noted that she
would like to become a social worker, but also wants to continue her retail
business, maybe moving it to a bigger city mall setting.
Villalobos said she also helped her niece
acquire her own business in Los Lunas. While she said there are grants now
available through the Small Business Administration and government agencies like
that, she said opening a business can still be a big challenge for Hispanic
women, or anyone for that matter.
According to the EEOC, less than three percent
of Hispanic women earn more than $75,000 a year while 56 percent earn less than
25 percent. The median income for Hispanic women is under $22,000, and Hispanic
women have consistently been ranked amongst the poorest of the poor in the
country, with many being the sole or main providers of their households. Despite these grim statistics, Boyd said the opportunities for women, minorities, and in particular, Hispanic women, will continue to grow. |
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