Identidades de género en las Telenovelas Mexicanas: estudio de caso de La Candidata

Abstract

This article ponders over the gender notions of women in the soap operas. La Candidata, a famous Mexican soap opera, is used in this study because it is an uncommon example of a show, presented to the Mexican television, that portrays how men use the Mexican political system to preserve a kleptocratic government, negotiate with the drug trafficking, and use violence as a form of political repression. In contrast, the telenovela depicts Regina Barcenas, the protagonist, as a woman whose behavior corresponds to the imaginary ideal of political women in Mexican society. Therefore, it represents political women as individuals who are expected to put aside their desire for power and ambition, and instead use their authority to exercise their role as the mothers of the community. La Candidata does not seek to break the gender stereotypes since itmaintains, through these political women, the separation of the public and private sphere, and presents political women in traditional roles.