Cindy Ramirez is a woman whose words run deep in the roots of El Paso, especially when the topic about women in journalism comes up. Ramirez, an El Paso native, journalist, and editor for El Paso Matters has fulfilled her duty in the borderland for over three decades.
Ramirez’s contribution to the art of journalism is filled with compassion and has helped her understand the El Paso community.
“El Paso Matters right now is a majority of women and so is El Paso County. I think it’s also important to reflect and report this demographic,” Ramirez said.
When compromising in the field of journalism, as a woman, there is not a lot of reciprocation for Ramirez.
“I started at the El Paso Times when I was still a student at UTEP. It was a combination of both being young and being a woman,” Ramirez said. “There were certainly some challenges in having some doors not closed, but they weren’t open too widely.”
Ramirez explains the crossroads early in her career, especially when it is a strongly male dominated work field.
“I think that the challenge especially came in interviewing men in power and kind of being subjected to the types of behaviors that were 20-30 years ago definitely not acceptable, but we weren’t talking about them as much,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez metaphorically says, “we’ve (women) been allowed in the room we just can’t always sit at the table yet.”
Ramirez’s career in journalism is the epitome of a journey.
El Paso Matters held an event, “Change Makers” to honor women in technology in homage to Women’s History month. The speaker was El Paso native Vanessa Feliberti Bautista, vice president of Microsoft 365 Programs.
“I wish I would have had that speech 30 years ago, but it still kind of hit home when she was saying, ‘Why not me?’” Ramirez said. “When you’re asking yourself or seeing somebody doing certain work, and think to yourself, ‘I can do that’ and not to dismiss yourself, but instead ask; why not me?”
The work Ramirez has put into El Paso Matters, covering education, local city government and border issues, shows that the topics are not news, but knowledge for the public.
“There’s always accountability. The people who run our schools and the people who run our governments, city, county, state and otherwise they are people who need to be held accountable whether they’re elected or appointed they are people who make decisions that impact our lives and so that has always been of importance to me,” Ramirez said.
As Ramirez’s words speak upon these topics, they’re transparent, fair and moral. She explains that she has a responsibility as a reporter, to find out if these powerful people that run people’s lives are doing the same.
Women in journalism is not any other statistic or platform for women to express themselves in a creative way It is a product of flipping the narrative.
Dominique Macias is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected].
