My turn: Latinas making progress

This month, Susana Martinez became not only the first female governor-elect in New Mexico, but the first Hispanic female governor-elect in our country. It was only a little over a year ago that another Latina, Sonia Sotomayor, became the first Hispanic appointed to an even higher office, the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2007, the Center for Women’s Business Research reported Hispanic women were opening businesses faster than any other ethnic group. These numbers indicate slow but noticeable progress, however, is the media telling the same story?

A few decades ago, images of Hispanic women on TV were demeaning: The welfare or crack mom or the illegal alien/maid. Today, a troublesome trend is not the portrayal but the lack of portrayal. Where are Hispanics on primetime TV? Without representatives of the fastest growing population, we’re getting a distorted image.

I read that superstar Jennifer Lopez is producing a sitcom for ABC about life as a Latina nanny, a show about several Latinas in domestic roles. I would expect more from J-Lo.

However, another Lopez, Ann Lopez, wife of comedian George Lopez, is producing a sitcom for NBC based on Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez’s New York Times best-seller, “The Dirty Girls Social Club,” a novel about the lives of five professional Latinas. That’s more like it.