Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego Criticizes Women Who Study, Work And Raise Children Simultaneously

DOLIA ESTEVEZ

Ricardo Salinas Pliego. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s controversial remarks on women do little to change the perception of Mexico’s machismo. In a well-attended business meeting in Guadalajara on Monday, the President and CEO of Grupo Salinas said that in modern societies women “are doing badly because they want to do everything and do very difficult things. Women want to study and go out and work and also be housewives. Well, Chihuahua! (Spanish expression of surprise), [it] is something very difficult and complicated to do. Superwomen look small by comparison,” reported the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, among others.


In a virtual dialogue with an audience of top business people and academics from Mexico and the U.S., Salinas Pliego asked an imaginary woman: “What do you do? I stay home –she answered.” Then, addressing the public, he went on: “How is this possible? Fathers should pay wages to our women for raising our children. That’s the minimal of what we should be doing. Do you understand me? This has to be appreciated, but since it’s not appreciated, they are told: go out and work you fodonga (slang for lazy) woman. To have a baby, raise him and educate him, is something very valuable. But we, as a society, don’t see it that way.”

 

Salinas Pliego, who has six children (three with his first wife and three with his second), including twins, made his remarks during the Mexico Business Summit, which took place in Guadalajara this week. He was part of a panel discussion with Juan Ramon de la Fuente, a former president of Mexico’s National Autonomous University. De la Fuente, a known Mexican intellectual, interrupted Salinas Pliego to say that the key for economic development is the education of mothers.
As his remarks spread through the social media, Salinas Pliego tweeted: “Let’s not be mistaken: I admire women that ask for more than what they are asked for by society: to be daughter, mother, professional and household provider.”
Women in Mexico face considerable gender discrimination. Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), reports that in urban, and more frequently in rural areas, many Mexican families still educate women to stay in the home, or they are given less of an opportunity to pursue an education, leaving fewer options for their development. Many men in Mexico have not been able to depart from their macho behavior and expect women to serve them. A 2012 INEGI study showed that 44.8% of women suffer violence on at least one occasion at the hands of their partners or husbands during their life together. Machismo is learned at home and perpetuated by mothers who give preferential treatment to their sons while their daughters are obligated to serve the men of the family and take care of their younger brothers and sisters, perpetuating stereotypes and behaviors that are deleterious to women and children.
While statements like Salinas Pliego’s are not rare within Mexico’s male-dominated society, it’s unusual to hear them from an educated public figure. With annual revenues of $6 billion, Salinas Group includes Mexico’s second biggest television broadcaster, TV Azteca; Elektra, Mexico’s largest electronic retailer, Banco Azteca and cell phone carrier Iusacell. Salinas Pliego saw his net worth plunge $7.5 billion from March 2012 to $9.9 billion in March of this year, as shares of Grupo Elektra fell 48%. His net worth has since fallen further, to an estimated $7.4 billion based on stock prices from Monday Oct. 21. Salinas Pliego was Mexico’s fourth richest person on Forbes’ 2013 list of the World’s Billionaires, behind Carlos Slim Helu, Alberto Bailleres, and German Larrea.