Abstract

"Peruvian women from ‘traditional and feminine’ to ‘independent agents’: the changing media construction of their pursuits"

Beatriz Rodríguez-Satizábal, Universidad del Pacífico (bh.rodriguezs@up.edu.pe), Laura Milanes-Reyes, Independent Scholar (milaneslauram@gmail.com)

The second globalization wave has seen an increase in the women participation in the Peruvian market, both as entrepreneurs and managers. Commonly, women’s ventures were a reaction to changes in the economic, political and social environment. Between the increase in access to education promoted since 1950, the massive entry into the labour market in 1970 (Barrig 1988; Tello and Paredes 1989; Elías 1994) and the impact of the 1980 debt crisis, the transformation of women's work and its role in the economy is a more visible reality since 1980. Despite these changes, the emphasis of gender studies in Peru has been on women as subjects of political and health rights, as vital members of the family unit, exploring the differences between rural and urban women, especially those related to perception and impact of machismo, and women as cultural managers and artists. Thus, this paper aims to contribute to the analysis of women as economic actors by answering the question on how the press reported the characteristics of Peruvian women and their relationship to changes in society. Based on a review of newspaper articles published in El Comercio (newspaper of record) and Gestión (economics and business newspaper) between 1980 and 2020, we trace the way in which this media outlet gives visibility to women's activities during a period of adjustments.