Women Workers in the Strawberry Agribusiness in Mexico

Abstract

In recent years, the women’s movement the world over has stressed the need in recent years, the women’s movement the world over has stressed the need to provide women with increased access to salaried employment in order to improve their living conditions. In some industrialized countries, however, the recession and long-term economic trends are making it more difficult for women to get adequate employment, because, among other reasons, many of the jobs traditionally held by women in industries—particularly in textiles, garment manufacturing, and electronics—are being relocated in developing countries (UNIDO 1980). In some cases, many of the labour-intensive agricultural activities in which women worked as wage labourers have also been shifting to developing regions. In the latter, as the economic structure maintains high levels of male and female unemployment, most governments welcome capital investments that will create employment and bring in foreign currency through exports.

This text was originally published as: Arizpe, Lourdes; Aranda, Josefina, 1981, in: Signs, 7, 2, University of Chicago (Winter): 453–473. Permission was granted on 12 June 2013 by Mgr. Perry Cartwright for Chicago University Press.

The research underlying this chapter was financed by the Rural Employment Policies Branch of the International Labour Office in February 1981.