Women in the Spheres of Economic and Political Power in Mexico

Abstract

Despite the dramatic increase of women’s participation in the work market and higher education, their involvement both in the political sphere and in managerial and leadership positions in private companies is still low. Owing to the limited information available on this issue, this research has produced its own database from a detailed analysis of business directories. This paper analyses the participation of women in the work force; the presence of men and women in higher education; as well as feminization and masculinization of different occupations. Likewise, the paper explores the role of women in the posts of political representation, and the executive and judicial powers; women’s management role differences in the public and private sectors; the horizontal and vertical segregation in jobs and professional careers in the organizations; as well as differences between foreign and domestic capital companies. CEOs sociodemographic characteristics are analyzed, as well as discrimination against mothers, conflicts within couples derived from their activities, “dual management” and the problem of roles settlement, the “glass ceiling” in Mexico, and occupational hierarchies.