Women's paid employment, households, and export -processing manufacturing in northern Mexico

This dissertation investigates the decision-making by low-income women workers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to enter employment in the export-processing sector. The data were collected as part of a survey of 1246 women workers in, conducted in 1991, where a probability sample of 572 maquila workers was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. This study focuses on a sub-sample of 372 maquila workers between the ages of 16 and 30 who had worked in the maquilas less than four years. Two questions guided the research: (1) How do low-income women workers of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, account for their decision to enter export-processing employment? and (2) How are these accounts shaped by variations in (1) whom they talked with their interlocutors, (2) household composition and economic well being, and (3) the women's own characteristics?; The workers' accounts, at the time of the interview, comprised who they spoke to and what they talked about when they decided to enter maquila employment. Content analysis and statistical tests (x2 and t-test) were used to explore the relationship among (1) household category and economic well being, (2) workers' characteristics, and (3) workers' motives and decision, and to identify which factors most influenced the decision. The workers' accounts revealed that the most common motives were family or personal economic needs, as well as personal improvement needs; work and working conditions however, was the most common discussion topic. Workers' age and position within the household had the greatest effect on motives or topics discussed, but their effect is mediated by whom they talked with. Gender and generational differences within households also had an influence. Younger, single workers, living with their parents were more likely to discuss their own needs or ask for permission; older, married workers focused more on family economic needs; and those living in same generation households were most likely to discuss working conditions. Workers' accounts also reveal a fairly egalitarian and cooperative decision-making, focused primarily on the workers' needs. They also reveal a strong gender division within the household, since most workers spoke to other women, particularly their mothers.