Ana Alicia Hinojosa has fought against the patriarchy and a hyperproductive world to find her rightful place in society, while also finding rest.
This blog is part of the ongoing Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy series.
Ana Alicia Hinojosa is the senior executive for Ventures at Mennonite Mission Network. She oversees Mennonite Mission Network’s global work, including Global Partnerships, Constituent Engagement and Training and Resources. Prior to her current role, Ana worked in the airline industry in various leadership positions. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to outreach and support for immigrant communities, coordinating and leading legal education events and clinics, and encouraging congregations to engage with displaced immigrants. Hinojosa holds a Master of Education in organizational leadership and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Brownsville. She also serves as the bi-vocational pastor at New Life Christian Center in San Benito, Texas, a church planted by her parents, Eduardo “Lalo” and Maria Hinojosa, in 1994.
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In today’s world, the subtle yet powerful effects of patriarchy continue to shape our daily lives, particularly in how we navigate the workplace and our own bodies. From the glass ceiling that limits women’s economic advancement to the invisible mental load they carry, patriarchal structures pervade our culture, making it a constant challenge to find true rest, resilience and spiritual nourishment.
The glass ceiling
For many women, the path to leadership positions is obstructed by the invisible, yet palpable, glass ceiling. Despite having the same qualifications, skills and experience, women often find themselves blocked from opportunities for promotion and decision-making power.
This has been especially true in my life, as a Chicana woman raised in a world dominated by machista men, where women were expected to stay in the home, cooking, cleaning and raising children. My father epitomized the “macho Mexican hombre,” until he found salvation. That evening, everything changed for our family. He became a reformed man and taught me that I could achieve anything I set my mind to and that women could hold high positions — provided they worked hard.
My mother, too, was relentless in her pursuit of breaking barriers. She went to school to get her GED while pregnant with me and pursued two years of college, despite my father’s objections before his transformation. She also became an entrepreneur, learning to bake cakes to help pay off our mortgage. That small business grew into a full-fledged catering company, which is still thriving today. As a family, we continue to bake, smoke briskets and hand-make tamales.
My story begins with a girl who always had big dreams, believing God had a grand plan for me. After graduating from college, I entered the airline industry, where only men held leadership roles. I started as a “ramp rat,” or luggage handler — a tough job, but one I never backed down from. I remember telling my crew one morning, “I’m going to be a station manager someday.” They laughed, but that only fueled my determination.
I moved to a bigger city for more opportunities and, after two years, began applying for leadership positions. But those positions were consistently given to men with less experience. I spent many nights crying to my parents, and they would always remind me, “God is with you, and he has big plans for you. DON’T GIVE UP.”
Five years into my career, after regularly working 18-20 hour shifts, my persistence paid off, and my manager saw the value of women in leadership roles. They promoted four women to lead positions, but we were given only a $1.00 raise, while the men received a $2.50 raise. I told myself, “This is a steppingstone.” A year later, I was offered a supervisor role, but once again, my pay was half of what a male counterpart would earn. This pay disparity was deeply embedded in the airline’s structure, but I kept pushing forward.
By year seven, life took another turn — I had to move back home to adopt my niece and nephews. That’s when the station manager approached me, saying he was retiring and recommending me to take over.
The mental load and the quest for resilience
As women juggle careers, families and social responsibilities, they often carry a heavy mental load. This refers to the constant, often invisible, work of managing tasks, keeping track of responsibilities, and ensuring things run smoothly at home and in the workplace. For women, it includes remembering birthdays, scheduling doctor appointments, planning meals and maintaining relationships — tasks that are disproportionately shouldered by them.
This mental load can be exhausting, often leading to burnout and stress. I remember the pressure of balancing being a single mother of three, while also running a station with significant responsibilities — it felt insurmountable. How can women maintain resilience in the face of such overwhelming expectations? Part of the answer lies in creating spaces for rest, reflection and spiritual nourishment.
Finding rest and spiritual nourishment in a hyperproductive world
In a culture that values hyperproductivity — where “doing more” is equated with success — the concept of rest can seem like a luxury. Yet for many women, rest is a radical act of resistance. Resting is not only about taking a break; it’s about reclaiming time, bodily autonomy and mental clarity from a world that often demands more than one can give.
For me, rest came in various forms: spending time at the beach — living just 20 minutes away made it convenient; baking, which became a therapeutic creative outlet; and most importantly, spending time with God. The spiritual practice of Sabbath, for example, invites individuals to cease all work, allowing for space to reconnect with God and one’s soul. It’s a time to affirm that a woman’s value goes beyond productivity, and our worth is inherent, not dependent on what we achieve.
Divine grace plays a crucial role in this process. In a society that celebrates hyperefficiency, grace offers a chance to slow down and experience peace. It is a reminder that our worth is not tied to our output or accomplishments. The world that often overlooks women’s need for rest, but grace calls us to surrender the need for perfection and embrace our imperfections. In this surrender, there is freedom, healing and renewal.
Embracing divine rest in a culture of hyperproductivity
Patriarchal systems thrive in environments where individuals are constantly pushed to achieve more, faster and at the expense of their well-being. For women, this pressure is magnified. Yet divine rest — rooted in grace and spiritual nourishment — offers an alternative to this unrelenting cycle. It invites us to slow down, rest in the knowledge that our worth does not lie in our productivity and embrace moments of stillness, as a source of strength.
Divine grace offers respite not only from life’s pressures but also from the harmful norms that dictate how women should live and work. In these moments of stillness, reflection and connection, women can rediscover their inherent worth and reclaim their power.
“Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy” draws attention to the ways in which the current systems in our world and churches create spaces that perpetuate patriarchal norms and do harm to those who fall outside of those norms. This initiative provides tools and resources to help MC USA church communities work toward a more equitable world, in which everyone is treated with the care and respect they deserve, regardless of gender.
You are invited to get involved with Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy.
Support Mennonite Church USA’s Peace and Justice Initiatives by giving here.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.