Mexico City bans use of models at city events

[Judi Lynn]

Amy Guthrie, Associated Press
Updated 1:15 pm CDT, Thursday, August 16, 2018

MEXICO CITY (AP) — They've long been an unmissable part of public events in Mexico, from soccer matches to trade fairs: attractive women hired to be greeters or simply as eye candy, sometimes scantily clad in short skirts and high heels or crop-tops and hot pants emblazoned with corporate logos.

Now Mexico City has prohibited the use of models known in local parlance as "edecanes" at events sponsored by the local government, breaking new ground for a country where deeply entrenched gender stereotypes often continue to relegate women to supporting roles in the workforce.

"This job should not exist," the capital's mayor, Jose Ramon Amieva, said in announcing the ban last week. "It goes against policies of gender equality."

In 2014, a group of female politicians organized a forum on the topic that concluded the edecan industry sometimes is a cover for prostitution and that the models face precarious employment conditions. It estimated more than 1 million Mexicans work as hostesses or hosts, most of them in the informal sector.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Mexico-City-bans-use-of-models-at-official-events-13161140.php#photo-16023544

[EX500rider]

1. They might want to look at their weather girls next...

[GatoGordo]

2. Why else watch the weather?

Its cultural and embedded throughout Latin America.

Look at the telenovelas from Mexico. All the women age 16-45 are drop-dead gorgeous. (It is how Salma Hayek got her start) Nearly every advertisement on TV has some stunner selling soap or cars or beer.

I'm not sure the purpose of this banning, but it will be interesting to see what happens. Many events are attended just for the sake of looking at the "eye candy".