Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Publication Date
1-2019
Publisher
Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation
Source Publication
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Source ISSN
0924-0608
Abstract
This study explores the experiences of women working as creatives in Mexican advertising creative departments. It is based on 22 in-depth interviews and suggests that these women face significant challenges within the machismo culture, which permeates Mexican advertising creative departments. Mexico plays an important role in global advertising, particularly in Latin America, but in this country female workers only represent five per cent of those working in creative departments. This is the first study focused on Mexican women creatives in advertising, highlighting the confluence of advertising women creatives and Mexican culture. Analysis reveals ten subcategories which articulate the horizontal and vertical barriers women creatives in Mexico face. Additionally, two broad workplace cohorts emerge: “old glories,” the misogynist men creatives who have historically managed advertising creative departments; and “forward thinkers,” young women and men who work side-by-side within advertising creative departments, disregarding or embracing gender differences. The findings, contextualized by cultural and organizational feminist theories as well as power theory, expose a machismo environment within Mexican advertising creative departments.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Mensa Torra, Marta and Grow, Jean, "Women Creatives and Machismo in Mexican Advertising: Challenging Barriers to Success" (2019). College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications. 539.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/539
Comments
Published version. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, No. 107 (January-June 2019): 27-53. DOI. © 2019 Marta Mensa, Jean Grow. Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.