ABSTRACT
When we think of women in advertising, we often think about how they are portrayed; it is less likely that we consider the careers of women who were considered the “pioneers” of early 20th-century advertising and marketing. Nonetheless, these women tell us something about a kind of “corporate feminism” that was developed in women’s advertising clubs and mobilized through the courses they offered to young women. By “corporate feminism,” I mean a group consciousness of gender and its impact on women’s career trajectories and the resulting rhetorical strategies the adwomen used to negotiate their way in the world of business. These strategies simultaneously affirmed stereotypes, obliquely advised ways to counter them, and symbolically prepared their students, potential adwomen, for the male domain of the advertising and marketing world.
