Making Labor Flexible: The Recomposition of Tijuana's Maquiladora Female Labor Force

Elizabeth Fussell

Feminist Economics, 2000, vol. 6, issue 3, 59-79

Abstract: This article revisits the debate over the benefits of export-oriented manufacturing employment for women by taking up Linda Lim's (1990) critique that such research is often biased in its methods and conclusions. Using a sample of 198 women workers from the 1993 Labor Trajectories Survey, I conduct a multivariate statistical analysis to test whether the social and demographic characteristics of the female maquiladora labor force influence their position in the labor market. I find that maquiladoras in Tijuana, Mexico, employ married women, women with children, and women with low levels of education who constitute a low-wage sector of the labor force with few other employment alternatives. In the drive to keep production costs low, multinational manufacturers have tapped into this low-wage labor force, thereby taking advantage of women's labor market disadvantages and making a labor force willing to accept more "flexible" terms of employment.

Keywords: Women; Low-WAGE Employment; Maquiladoras; Mexico; Flexible Labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1080/135457000750020137

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