From the Guts to the Surface: Organizational Culture, Women's Leadership, and Gender Inequality in Mexico's Mines

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of gender inequality and how it has affected women leaders in the Mexican mining industry. According to Tarrés (2013), the gender category is the result of social relations based on differences perceived by the sexes and power. Gender inequality is the result of privileging one group over another based on an ideological system and not on abilities or abilities. To understand inequality in organizations and how to eradicate it, it is necessary to take into account organizational culture as a system of shared beliefs, habits and processes that maintain, replicate or change the dynamics within companies. To learn first-hand about what women leaders experience in the mines, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed from an interpretive approach based on an analogical epistemology. Thanks to this approach, it was possible to detect that there are still companies with inequality practices, but also that there are gender education programs, inclusion policies and support networks to eradicate inequality and create a better working environment.