This research examined challenges, choices, and decisions of women professors in higher education. Special attention was given to Latina professors. This article reviewed the literature on established theories of representative bureaucracy and contextualized faculty women, especially Latinas, in this proportional representation framework. Answers were sought to three research questions: Are Hispanic, Black, and Asian women keeping pace with their White peers in higher education; are women as a group in higher education keeping pace with their male counterparts; and what obstacles, if any, must female professors overcome? Study results suggest that although women comprise nearly half of all postsecondary teachers, they are not keeping pace with White males in terms of promotion to tenured professorships. Education demographics illustrate that Latinas, in particular, are not achieving tenure and promotion and are not proportionately represented in higher education suggesting that mentoring may be a key variable to promotion within higher education.

Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States. By the year 2025, they will be the single largest minority group in the country.1 Sometimes referred to as the “sleeping giant,” Americans of Mexican descent are the dominant ethnic group within the Hispanic subculture. Sizable populations of Mexican-Americans reside in California, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona. Research on Mexican-American professionals is scarce, since they have not been identified specifically as “Mexican-Americans” in studies about career advancement. Instead, they have been lumped together with all Hispanics, or, in some instances, with all minorities.2 It is questionable whether previous research accurately describes, explains, and predicts the careers of this growing subculture of the American workforce, it is important to know more about this growing group of professionals who will help to shape public policy for themselves and the nation in the next millennium.

Resumen: Dificultades de las mujeres para acceder a educación y puestos de trabajo comprende no solo sexismo, sino raza e identidad étnica. Se examinan los casos en la inserción laboral de mujeres profesionales afroamericanas y árabes que viven en Estados Unidos y de mujeres mexicanas en su país. Se revisan dificultades en su educación y carrera profesional, las estrategias para superarlas, principalmente el papel de los mentores/tutores. La principal conclusión es el papel determinante de los tutores en la trayectoria educativa y profesional de las mujeres y las que han sido apoyadas por éstos generalmente se convierten en mentoras. Palabras clave: Mentores/tutores, trayectorias de mujeres, narrativa. Title in English: Mentors in the Development of Professional Women. United States and MexicoAbstract: Impediments to women"s access to education and jobs include not only sexism, but race and ethnicity. This paper examines the work placement experiences of Afro-American and Arab professional women living in the USA, and of Mexican women in their own country. The educational and professional career struggles are reviewed; the strategies for success, and the role of mentors, are also examined. The conclusion is that the role of mentors is decisive in the career education of women, and that those women often become mentors in their turn.

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