Latinas are on a roll—exercising new political and economic clout.

In the U.S. and many areas abroad, we are now entering the era of the Latina/Latino. Americans with ancestral roots in Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Peru, Portugal, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Columbia, the Dominican Republic– indeed, all the Hispanic cultures. These Latinas/Latinos have taken what’s best and most vibrant in those traditions and married them to the energy and innovation of the United States, to create new styles and rhythms for a wide variety of careers and professions, seizing success in virtually every arena of life in the U.S.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett in Latinas: A Strong and Growing Workforce Asset reports:

“This demographic group brings a great deal to the marketplace. Seven million strong and growing, the Latina labor force is increasingly well qualified. Between 1996 and 2006 the number of Hispanic women earning bachelor’s degrees increased 222 percent while the number of Latinas earning masters increased 307 percent. In addition, the spending power of Latinos/Latinas is a huge engine for growth in the U.S. ($928 billion, $200 billion larger than two years ago). Thus, it behooves corporations to pay serious attention to Latinas – as employees and consumers.

The report, Sin Fronteras: Celebrating and Capitalizing on the Strengths of Latina Executives, published by the New York-based Center for Work-Life Policy fills a hole in the research literature. Despite the rapidly growing heft of the Latina market (in terms of both brain power and buying power) rather little is known about this important group. Latinas are little studied and poorly understood. Sin Fronteras begins to remedy this omission with three key findings:

1. Heritage is a huge asset. The data is impressive here, whether you’re talking “cultural smarts,” fierce work ethic or an aptitude for collaborative leadership, Latinas have enormous potential in the executive suite.

2. Stereotypes and stigma are serious on-going barriers. All too often Hispanic workers are seen as “lazy, ignorant, illegal immigrants draining the social services.” As a consequence, employers often have a hard time seeing Latinas as “leadership material.”

3. Cutting edge companies are beginning to get it. A piece of good news: Companies are beginning to leverage Latina talent creating support networks (Goldman Sachs, GE); providing leadership training (J&J); honoring community outreach (Time Warner); underpinning personal and family resilience (Booz Allen Hamilton, Credit Suisse); and tackling stereotypes and stigma (Cisco). All of these initiatives involve the top rungs of management and thus are potential “game-changers.”

Read all of Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s Winning the Talent War posts