Maquiladoras

By Reilly Smith
 What is a
maquiladora??
•Factories that make goods on contract to a
“parent” company

•There are over 3,000 maquiladoras in Mexico;

the majority are owned by U.S. interests and
located within thirty miles of the border

•“In 1980, the maquiladoras employed about

120,000 workers; by 1990, their numbers had
risen to over 400,000; and at its high point of
1999, some 1.3 million held maquiladora jobs,”
(Mattingly, 81).
http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1901/Davidson/Davi
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 Women over men
•“Women are preferred both because they are less
expensive to employ than men are and because their
gender socialization and inexperience with labor
unions presumably make them more docile and less
easy to organize,” (Mattingly, 74)

•“Among the ironies of the maquiladora program is

that, although it was intended to provide jobs for men,
women were preferred for assembly jobs,” (Mattingly,
79)

•In the beginning, young, single, childless women

workers were preferred to work in the factories.
However, over the years…
•“Married mothers made better workers because they were
more mature, reliable, and less apt to jump from job to job
Maquilapolis: City of
Factories
http://media.argentina.indymedia.org/uploads/2007/09/mexico-
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