Member-only story
Why Fair Pay Is About Dignity, Not Just Dollars…and How the Work Really Gets Done in America
Let me tell you something about Latina women — we work.
We work in hospitals, in kitchens, in offices, in homes. We work double shifts and side gigs. We work unpaid hours doing caregiving, translating, emotional support. And most of the time? We’re not paid anywhere near what we deserve.
“We worked a lot but were never fully compensated.”
That hit me hard when I read it. Because it’s not just a sentence — it’s a life story. It’s the women in my family. My tía, who cleaned houses so her daughters could go to college. My cousin, who ran daycare out of her living room while raising three kids. My mom, who somehow made one paycheck cover rent, food, school supplies, and still managed to give me birthday presents.
And none of them ever made enough.
“As a society, we don’t value labor that doesn’t produce wealth for the powerful.”
That’s not a quote from a textbook — it’s just the truth.
We talk about “essential workers” when it’s convenient. We praise nurses and childcare workers and farmworkers when we need them. But we don’t protect them. We don’t pay them right. We don’t give them health insurance or safe working conditions or respect.
