“We’ve been very open about our politics and what we stand for, and whenever we give out supplies, we also say to the women, ‘Do you need a condom? Do you want to be open with us? Are you sexually active? Do you need something else that we can give you?’”

Despite the fact that women have higher college graduation rates than men (this is true in the U.S. as a whole but heightened in Puerto Rico), Puerto Rico still faces major gender inequality issues, including high incidences of violence against women (which normally increase after natural disasters and times of economic stress), a high number of female heads of households, and low representation of women in politics and government. Most experts attribute these disparities to overall poverty in Puerto Rico and to the way the U.S. has structured Puerto Rico’s economy, which has been hard on families and left women to bear the brunt.

Are there external barriers holding women back? You bet. Examples of sexism abound. But one of the biggest hurdles women must still over come is a lack of belief in our innate ability to lead; to be feminine and fierce and a force for change- all at the same time. Something Cruz did in spades.