Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora : Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana

by Iglesias Prieto, Norma; Stone, Michael; Winkler, Gabrielle

• ISBN13: 9780292738683
• ISBN10: 0292738684
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

Published originally as La flor mas bella de la maquiladora , this beautifully written book is based on interviews the author conducted with more than fifty Mexican women who work in the assembly plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. A descriptive analytic study conducted in the late 1970s, the book uses compelling testimonials to detail the struggles these women face. The experiences of women in maquiladoras are attracting increasing attention from scholars, especially in the context of ongoing Mexican migration to the country's northern frontier and in light of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This book is among the earliest accounts of the physical and psychological toll exacted from the women who labor in these plants. Iglesias Prieto captures the idioms of these working women so that they emerge as dynamic individuals, young and articulate personalities, inexorably engaged in the daily struggle to change the fundamental conditions of their exploitation.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(4)
Translators' Foreword	xiii	(4)
Acknowledgments	xvii	(2)
Introduction	xix
1. Meeting the Demand	1	(18)
2. The Realm of Work	19	(10)
3. We Women Are More Responsible	29	(7)
4. Maquila Muchachas: Pretty Young Maids	36	(10)
5. Who I Am, Where I Come From, and Where I'm Going	46	(26)
6. Most Beautiful Flower of the Maquiladora	74	(7)
7. Solidev: An Embattled Maquiladora	81	(17)
8. By Way of Conclusion	98	(3)
Appendices	101	(6)
Bibliography	107	(4)
Index	111