Decolonizing gender in Latin American businesses: the power of metaphors in corporate rituals

Abstract

Purpose By using organizational ethnography to study rituals in Latin American firms, I intend to illuminate the concrete practices by which gender hierarchies prevail despite the progressive discourses and policies that proclaim equality within modern corporations. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, I describe a corporate ritual that celebrated the birth of a new brand in Bogotá, Colombia. I use this case study to reflect on the ethnographic findings of a long-standing project that involves the collection of data in two periods (2008–11 and 2022 onwards), with systematic observations of rituals in five different firms in Colombia and Ecuador, as well as life trajectories, and in-depth interviews with senior executives. Findings Language, artifacts, and metaphors are used in corporate rituals to elevate corporate elites through the enactment of a masculine script. In particular, archaic gender stereotypes are effective in transforming male managers into erotic subjects, heroes, and father figures for the corporate audience, while excluding female managers from competing in equal terms within the managerial pyramid. The devices also work well to create the corporate climax that firms require to achieve business goals. Originality/value Access to observe corporate rituals is generally closed and out of reach for academic research. This makes it difficult for scholars who study the practices by which gender systems are put in place, as well as the effects these have on corporate hierarchies. My work unlocks the mechanisms that ensure that colonial legacies prevail, ultimately preserving a model of unequal, capitalist, and patriarchal accumulation in Latin American firms.