2026 The Year of the Mujer

Something is happening across this nation. Women are waking up. Mujeres are organizing. Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, business owners, educators, caregivers, artists, students, community leaders, and everyday women are beginning to understand that this moment is bigger than one person, one city, one election, or one organization. Across the country, women are having conversations that can no longer be ignored. We are talking about leadership, representation, opportunity, family, culture, business, politics, education, safety, and the future of our communities.

We are asking hard questions. We are challenging old systems. We are remembering who we are. And here in San Antonio, through La Prensa Texas, we are adding our voice to that movement. 2026 is the year of the mujer. Not because someone handed us permission. Not because someone suddenly decided women deserve space. Not because we are waiting to be invited into rooms where decisions are made. It is the year of the mujer because women across this nation are already claiming it.

We the women are taking our seats at the table. But this is not just about taking one chair in someone else’s room. It is about understanding that our leadership is not new. Our power is not new. Our wisdom is not new. Our ability to build, organize, protect, provide, lead, heal, and transform communities is not new. It is ancestral. Did you know that before colonization, many Indigenous women were leaders? Many of us did not know that.

Many of us were never taught that part of history. We were taught about conquest, survival, assimilation, and struggle, but not enough about the women who held power before colonization tried to erase it. In many Indigenous communities, women were central voices. They were knowledge keepers, healers, leaders, protectors of land, language, family, ceremony, and tradition. They helped guide communities. They carried authority.

They were not fighting for a seat at the table because their voices already mattered in the circle. Then colonization came. And with it came systems that pushed women out of power. Systems that tried to erase Indigenous knowledge. Systems that told our ancestors their ways were not civilized, their languages were not worthy, their ceremonies were not sacred, and their women were not supposed to lead. Over time, many of our people were forced to assimilate.

They had to survive inside systems that were not built for them. They had to adjust, adapt, hide, and compromise pieces of themselves to protect their families and keep moving forward. And are we not still seeing that today? Politically, professionally, culturally, and socially, women are still being told to shrink. We are still being told to wait. We are still being told to be grateful for limited space. We are still being divided by party, age, race, class, industry, jealousy, fear, and competition.

But across the nation, women are beginning to reject that. We are remembering that division is what we were taught. Leadership is what we inherited. I used to think my great-grandmother was ahead of her time. She owned a business. She owned a grocery store. She owned a live theater. I thought she was rare. I thought she was different. I thought she was doing something women were not supposed to do back then. But now I understand something deeper.

Maybe she was not ahead of her time. Maybe she was the last of her kind. Maybe she carried something that had always lived in the women before her. Maybe she was living proof of what women in our bloodline had always known how to do: build, lead, create, provide, organize, and stand strong for the generations coming behind them. That kind of power does not disappear. It gets buried.It gets silenced. It gets renamed. It gets forgotten.

But it does not disappear. It is in our DNA. We the women are not becoming powerful. We are remembering that we always were. That is why this moment matters. This is not about one woman rising. It is about women rising together. It is about every woman who has ever felt unseen, unheard, underestimated, excluded, or pushed aside. It is about the grandmother whose sacrifices were never recorded. The mother who keeps showing up even when she is exhausted.

The young woman looking for a mentor. The businesswoman breaking barriers. The student finding her voice. The caregiver carrying everyone else. The woman starting over. The leader who knows real power means making room for others. This is an invitation.To every mujer in San Antonio. To every woman in Texas. To every Latina, Black woman, Indigenous woman, Asian woman, white woman, young woman, elder, mother, daughter, sister, entrepreneur, teacher, healer, artist, voter, volunteer, and leader across this country.

Come into the circle. There is room for you here. For too long, women have been taught to compete instead of connect. We have seen exclusion, gossip, jealousy, gatekeeping, and silent hostility become normalized. We have watched women be divided when we should have been aligned. We have been taught that another woman’s success somehow takes something away from us. That ends now. Her win is not your loss. Her win is a reminder.

Her win is evidence. Her win is proof that the door can open wider, the path can stretch farther, and the circle can grow larger. We the women are taking our seats at the table, but we are also remembering something older and stronger than the table. The circle. In our culture, the circle is sacred. The circle is family. The circle is ceremony. The circle is community. The circle is where stories are told, wisdom is passed down, healing begins, and no one stands above another.

A table can be controlled. A table can have limited chairs. A table can be owned by someone else. But a circle is different. A circle has no beginning and no end. That is what women across this nation are building now. A circle of leadership. A circle of mentorship. A circle of civic power. A circle of economic strength. A circle of culture. A circle of healing. A circle of mujeres who understand that we were never meant to do this alone.

La Prensa Texas is inviting every woman, every ally, every organization, every business, every school, every church, and every community leader to be part of this moment. Share the stories. Speak the names. Mentor the next woman. Open the door. Recommend her. Hire her. Vote with her in mind. Protect her voice. Celebrate and defend her publicly. Teach our daughters the history we were never taught. Teach our sons to honor the leadership of women.

We are not asking for crumbs. We are not waiting quietly. We are not shrinking anymore. We are building. We are leading. We are voting. We are mentoring. We are remembering. And we are inviting everyone who believes in the power of women to stand with us. Let 2026 be remembered as the year mujeres stopped waiting. The year women across this nation remembered who they were. The year we stopped competing for one chair and started building a circle big enough for all of us.

We the women are taking it back. Our seat. Our voice. Our power. Our history. Our circle. And it is never ending. La Prensa Texas invites readers to be part of this national conversation. Share your stories, photos, family histories, comments, views, and the movements or organizations you are part of that uplift, empower, and honor women. Selected submissions may be shared in the newspaper, online, and across La Prensa Texas social media platforms as we build a circle of strength, mentorship, culture, and change.

Send your submissions to info@laprensatexas.com with the subject line: We the Women.