The Labor Conditions of Migrants
Introduction & Historical Context
“[T]he Mexico-United States Migratory System is one of the oldest, most complex, and most dynamic in the world” (Delgado-Wise 664). The “Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848), when approximately half the territory of Mexico passed into the hands of the U.S. and many Mexicans became de facto immigrants solely due to the movement of the country’s borders” (Delgado-Wise 664), effectively established migratory patterns among both countries and “[n]early all of today’s 15 million Mexican Americans trace their origins to people who migrated to the United States after 1848” (Massey 25). “13,000 Mexicans had emigrated to the United States in the entire five decades from 1850 to 1900, over the next three decades the outflow totaled 728,000” (Massey 31). A number of factors lead to the increasing reliance on Mexican labor. “The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1907 Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan brought Asian immigration to an abrupt halt” (Massey 27) followed by “[t]he outbreak of World War I [which] halted European immigration in late 1914” (Massey 28). “When Congress sought to restrict immigration in 1917 by imposing a head tax and literacy test on all new arrivals, the attorney general immediately exempted Mexicans from these provisions” (Massey 28). This made Mexicans one of the few sources of unfiltered immigration and markets came to rely on them. “In early 1942 the Roosevelt administration negotiated a binational treaty for the temporary importation of Mexican farmworkers” (Massey 35) which would become known as the Bracero Program. “From 1955 to 1960 annual bracero migration fluctuated between 400,000 and 450,000” (Massey 37). “[B]y the 1970s Mexico-U.S. Migration had evolved into a well-regulated, highly predictable, and largely self-sustaining system” (Massey 51) and “over the 34 years from 1970 to 2004, the number of Mexican-born residents of the U.S. increased 13-fold” (Delgado-Wise 665). “[B]etween 2000 and 2005 a net annual average of 400,000 Mexicans left the country to take up residence in the United States” (Delgado-Wise 665) and “in 2002 there were 5.3 million undocumented Mexicans in the United States” (Delgado-Wise 669) while “in 2004 the population of Mexican-origin residents in the United States was estimated at 26.6 million, including immigrants – both documented and undocumented” (Delgado-Wise 665). These statistics demonstrate an increasing number of Mexicans coming to the U.S. for work throughout the entire history of migration between the countries. The history also demonstrates that migration does not appear to be slowing and that Mexican origin people will only be an increasing demographic in the United States. The examination of labor conditions is important because of the increasing presence of Mexicans in the market.
The history shows that the U.S. has “an ever-expanding labor market filled by a constant stream of immigrants willing to accept backbreaking jobs at low wages” (Schell 140) with “conditions reminiscent of the nineteenth century rather than reflective of the twenty-first” (Schell 165) while Mexico is traditionally characterized by a “structural inability to create sufficient formal jobs to improve the standards of living of workers and their families” (Delgado-Wise 663). This leads the economy of Mexico to focus on the “direct exportation of labor” (Delgado-Wise 664) and has become “the world’s leading exporter of migrant workers” (Delgado-Wise 656). Also Mexico and the U.S. two countries “with widely disparate standards of living that share a two-thousand-mile land border” (Massey 24) and “the ratio of wage differences between Mexico and the United States is generally around 1:7” (Delgado-Wise 662). making it unsurprising that people would migrate to change their lives. “In the course of state-sponsored labor migration, social networks evolved to support international movement and make recruitment increasingly irrelevant” (Massey 50). Individuals could rely on others who had migrated to get access to the same kinds of economic success. “As households containing braceros altered their consumption patterns and displayed the fruits of their U.S. labor, nonmigrant families came to feel relatively deprived and themselves sought to migrate” (Massey 42) and they used those established social networks. With the ending of the bracero program and the institution of quotas, “undocumented migration was the only possible outlet for the powerful migration-promoting forces set in motion by the bracero program and ongoing structural changes in Mexico and the United States” (Massey 45). These quotas were intended to protect the U.S. from being overrun by unwanted migrants. Migrants that did not fit the cultural norms of mainstream Americans. Through an attempt to limit immigration in some parts of the world, the pull was redirected South of the border and Mexican migrants made up for the limited migration.
Certain industries became known as immigrant only and these “jobs require low qualification levels, pay low wages, offer limited or no fringe benefits, are unstable, and the associated labor relations are unilateral, informal, risky, and subject to extralegal abuse by employers” (Delgado-Wise 669). These sectors include agricultural, day labor, and meat and poultry processing. Some of the industries are older than others but they are all held by immigrants, mostly of Mexican origin.
Agriculture Workers
“Mexican immigrant workers have, at least since the 1950s, been the most important single ethnic group in the farm labor force” (Farmworkers). This importance is only growing as many individuals “feel forced to migrate” (Diaz-Romo) and now “three of every four agricultural workers were born in Mexico” (Delgado-Wise 671). These migrants make journeys under “subhuman conditions, arriving hungry and thirsty” (Diaz-Romo). They come to “California, and the United States in search of a better life. Poverty, marginalization, insufficient jobs, and erosion of the semidesertic land brought on by the deforestation are all factors leading up to this migration” (Santos). Individuals see “immigration [as] a manner of surviving as a family and as a community, and allows for some economic improvement” (Santos) and “in almost every community where there is a strong migration, someone has died at an early age due to problems with pesticides” (Santos). Pesticides are one of the most hazardous conditions migrants will face in this industry.
“In the United States, most farm-workers have historically been economically and politically disadvantaged, not so often as a consequence of their being racial minorities, but more because of their status as unauthorized immigrants” (Farmworkers) and “the high association between farm work and certain racial-ethnic minorities has reinforced negative racial views of these groups and often supported stereotypes about their abilities and employment preferences” (Farmworkers). Mexicans are one of these groups.
The “agricultural workplace is largely exempt from the framework of labor laws that protect mainstream workers” (Farmworkers) and “surveys identify migrant farm works as the single worst profession” (Schell 139). The labor reforms that took place in the early 19th century that worked hard to reform manufacturing industries and do away with practices such as child labor, unsafe conditions, and a shorter work day were blocked in agriculture by lobbyists. The lobbyists goal was to protect small rural farms but as farming changed to giant agribusiness the laws did not. Today, it is possible to see “young women all dressed up, complete with high-heeled shoes, standing up for a 10–12 hour day of packing tomatoes” (Barndt). Young women dress up for the benefit of their employers. They need to look pretty and do a job. The female’s comfort is not important to their bosses. While contractors “reject traditional Mexican norms of mutual reciprocity and consistently emphasize the rules of a market economy in order to justify a variety of exploitative practices” (Farmworkers). Contractors then lure workers with “great promises of good wages, benefits, and housing. [The workers] arrived to find only shells of homes in camps without running water, sewage, or electricity; disease was rampant, and no health services were provided” (Barndt).
The “landowners have never been interested in protecting the workers. The produce has always come first. The workers do not receive training on preventive measures they could take to protect their health, as well as an orientation prioritizing human life above the produce they are harvesting” (Santos). It is often seen that the “people in this area are very poor, so the creation of jobs was given priority over the peoples’ health” (Santos). Migrant employees are viewed as disposable. There are plenty of workers willing to do the same work in the same conditions for the same pay and to farmers there is an endless stream of undocumented laborers waiting. This attitude of replacement leads to an unfair treatment of laborers. Poverty is seen to be remediable by creating jobs not by increasing wages or conditions.
Beyond living conditions, working conditions are unacceptable as well. “[S]ign are posted everywhere in English, and sometimes in Spanish, warning people not to enter the fields, many workers that do not know how to read, so they remain unaware of the dangers. They see some of the plants that [they] eat in Oaxaca growing among the produce, and they take them home to use as food. Later, they become sick to their stomach. Their children are born with these poisons in their system, since their mothers worked in the fields. Although very nicely written laws exist to protect the workers, farmers often don’t obey them. In fact, some farmers won’t even take a worker suffering from pesticide intoxication to the doctor, since the farmer could be fined for having violated the law” (Santos). Often workers do not know their rights and are unable to act on them and even if a worker did know their rights the farmer may threaten to call INS on them. The migrants status very much affects how protected they are.
“The exposure to pesticides is one of the greatest risks that Indigenous migrant workers face” (Diaz-Romo) in agriculture work. This is a great risk for a variety of reasons. “The Indigenous workers are especially vulnerable to the pernicious effects of the pesticides for diverse reasons, among them the fact that they lack information regarding the dangers of exposure, because the contractors do not provide them with safety equipment, and because the conditions in which they live and work in the agroindustrial fields prevents them, for example, from bathing and from washing their clothes after being in contact with pesticides recently applied or with residual pesticides” (Diaz-Romo). It has been found that “moist skin absorbs pesticides more easily” (Diaz-Romo) and very often work occurs in moist conditions. Some migrants even “use the empty pesticide containers to carry their drinking water, without paying notice to the grave dangers that this represents, since the majority cannot read the instructions on the labels which may be written in English” (Diaz-Romo). Many workers “are not aware that the poisons sprayed on the plants to kill the various types of insects, worms, and blights, affect also the health of human beings and can even kill them” (Santos). “[T]he people applying the pesticides didn’t use safety equipment to protect themselves from danger or death” (Santos). In one particularly moving example, Santos introduces “Arcadio Gil González, whose job it was to apply the pesticides on tomato plants. One day, [they] were told of his sudden death. He was a tall, strong 18-year-old at the time, so everyone from San Miguel Cuevas… was talking about how the cause of his death had to do with the ‘medicines’ used on the plants. Supposedly, Arcadio overlooked his health because this job paid slightly higher wages” (Santos). Workers also said it is “common to see planes spraying pesticides on the field right next to us without any concern for our health. Runoff from the pesticides seeps into the irrigation canals, and the empty pesticide containers are dumped in ditches, contaminating the water and the environment. In the evenings, and on Sundays, people swim in these poisoned canals, and even drink water from them. In their kitchens they reuse the containers and buckets found in the canals. The children often eat the tomatoes in the fields without washing them, and with dirty hands. All these factors have brought new illnesses such as cancer to [their] communities of origin” (Santos). With this wealth of information it is unsurprising to find that the “symptoms of pesticide poisoning occur every season in the U.S.” (Santos). What needs to be understood by all in the agricultural process is that “pesticides are poisons specifically designed to kill. They are toxins that contaminate and degrade everything with which they come into contact; there are no remedies or cures against them and, contrary to their manufacturers’ claims, they are destroying the cycles of life and the ecosystem of the planet and its inhabitants” (Diaz-Romo). Beyond understanding pesticides, we need to understand that a worker is a human being who is entitled to human rights. We need to be sure that migrants understand the dangers and their rights. A simple way to accomplish this is to have multilingual employees who explain what the directions, symbols, and regulations are. We also need to be sure that a migrant can exercise those rights without fear of deportation. We need to move towards preserving human life and away from the cold-hearted pure profit model of cutthroat capitalism.
Day Laborers
The poor situation of agriculture workers is sadly similar in the case of day laborers. Day laborers traditionally migrated to old destinations in the West but are now seen all over the United States. Day laborers are individuals who are hired on an as needed basis by companies and individuals to perform a range of tasks including but not limited to home repair and electrical work. The day labor market is “characterized by routine violations of basic labor standards, the workforce endures the hardships associated with low earning levels and public opinion in some parts of the country has turned against day laborers” (Valenzuela 21). Day laborers feel and often have no other options and the communities are unwilling to integrate the minority group.
The film Farmingville best illustrates this struggle. In the town of Farmingville in Long Island we see these conditions. In the film it was not uncommon to see an extraordinary number of people living together in a house to make ends meet. The film also showed us how public opinion of some members of the town were entirely against the immigrants. The migrants were assigned a social stigma because they lacked the same language and culture. The film also showed us examples of harassment that day laborers experience.
Many day laborers face a “routine violations of workers’ rights” (Valenzuela 2). “Workplace injuries are common” (Valenzuela ii) and “the day labor market is rife with employer abuse” (Valenzuela 14). Day laborers maybe denied food, water, restroom breaks, payment, become injured and uncompensated for that injury, and worst of all, employer violence. Day labor work can include “exposure to hazardous conditions, use of faulty equipment, lack of protective gear and safety equipment, and lack of safety training” (Valenzuela 12). Often “day laborers are hired to undertake some of the most dangerous jobs at a worksite and there is little, if any, meaningful enforcement of health and safety laws” (Valenzuela 12).
“Day labor pays poorly” (Valenzuela ii) and the “employment is unstable and insecure”(Valenzuela ii). Workers contracts are verbal and thus are “unsecured and open-ended” (Valenzuela 6). This often means that the employer does not feel obligated obey the contract and workers are often cheated out of wages. Sadly, the workers are often threatened by the employers with immigration authorities and don’t seek help for these injustices. Many “day laborers rely on day-labor work as their sole source of income” (Valenzuela 9) and “although the majority of day-labor assignments pays $10 per hour or more, the monthly and yearly earnings of most day laborers place them among the working poor. The instability of work combined with occasionally low hourly wage results in low monthly earnings for most day laborers, even during peak periods when work is relatively plentiful. In addition, workdays lost to job-related injuries and illness, and the underpayment of wages by some employers, contribute to the problem of the low monthly earnings of day laborers” (Valenzuela 10). Day laborers have no access to health and the support system that many with a regular job have. This informal type of employment does not have access to health and without a national health care plan that includes all people regardless of status, they may never have access to it. As the film Farmingville represented, one of the most positive steps in the right direction is to create hiring centers. This allows a space for workers to congregate and have access to restrooms and running water. It also regulates employment, safety, creates contracts, and will help remedy any issues between the employer and employee.
Meat and Poultry Workers
The story of workers in the meat and poultry industry is strikingly similar to both day laborers and agricultural workers. The meat and poultry industry is located in new destinations in the South such as Georgia. A worker in the poultry industry will face an “overwhelming combination of sounds, sights, and smells” (Striffler 156). “The smell is indescribable, suffocating, and absolutely unforgettable” (Striffler 156) combined with “[b]lood, feces, and feathers… flying everywhere” (Striffler 156).
Working conditions that poultry workers face are “not only monotonously repetitive, they are dangerously so” (Striffler 157). Workers “stand in the same place and make the exact same set of motions for an entire shift” (Striffler 157). “The work is backbreaking” (Striffler 158) and often employees “will be doing the job of two people” (Striffler 158) or more. Factory management has found that “reducing the number of of on-line workers does not necessarily prevent the line from running. The remaining workers simply have to work faster to keep pace with the line” (Striffler 159). Striffler believes “the intensity and monotony of the job is almost unbearable” (161). The reason work is able to proceed the way it does is because there are “no labor unions or binding job descriptions” (Striffler 159). Skill has been strategically removed from the job and often the pay is the same between jobs thus workers with seniority attempt to move to easier jobs within the plant. Other workers who have options try to move to other jobs in the area. Some workers develop health conditions related to repetitive motion such as arthritis. These employees are able to continue only for so long before they are forced out. Employee retention is not a prime concern.
The conditions of meat and poultry industry could be dramatically improved if there was a shift towards employee value. As in other industries, the value is not on the worker but on the product. If conditions were more tolerable and moved at a comfortable pace employees may remain. This shift is damaging because it places workers who have no other options in a terrible position while in the past workers were able to take pride in their work.
Conclusion & Analysis
“For the U.S. Economy, Mexican labor has played a central role in the current process of productive restructuring, aimed at lowering labor costs” (Delgado-Wise 676) and thus “the word ‘Mexican’…[is used] as a synonym for ‘worker’…but one who is doing what is socially defined as the worst kind of work” (Striffler 164). Mexicans become viewed as “easily exploitable because they will accept wages and working conditions that workers with other options will not consider” (Farmworkers). These conditions are able to continue because “workers were unorganized” (Barndt) and fear fighting back against the system.
Mexicans should instead to be viewed as valuable. They need to be integrated into society as all other immigrant groups in the past have been. The goal should not be to create a permanent underclass. Industry needs to shift back towards employee value and away from the frightening profit model it is now. The language of the worker needs to be utilized so that workers are not exploited into dangerous health conditions as is the case of the agriculture worker. The status of the worker should not be used as a way to keep the worker from good health. Laborers also need to know their rights and be able to act if they feel they have been violated. All employees legal or not need access to basic rights such as food and water breaks that are often kept from them as is the case of the day laborer. There is also a need for spaces such as hiring centers to help maintain the rights of the worker. We need to place skill and pride back in work because the removal of is often a justification for exploitation and subhuman conditions. The factory conditions should not make one sick and repulsed as is the case of the meat and poultry workers. Work should also be distributed equitably. No one should have to do the job of two or more people. Employee retention should be important to all companies.
Should these suggestions not be fulfilled things will only continue in the manner they have been. Mexicans shall remain in the underclass. They shall toil tirelessly to no end. They will not be able to participate in the American Dream like all the immigrant groups who came before them. They shall continue to be ravaged by poverty, under education, and health problems. There will be no end in sight for the social ills but yet Mexican immigrants will continue to come. However, if the suggestions come to fruition the future is much brighter. We will see Mexicans as a resource and may see immigration reform. New worker programs and ways to fix ones status may become common place. Mexican immigrants will have access to the range of social benefits we have as citizens or legal residents. Access to education and health care will break the image of the immigrant job. The goal should not be to replace the bottom rung of workers but improve the overall conditions. Industries will value their employees and people can be proud to go to work.
Works Cited
Barndt, Deborah. “Women Workers in the NAFTA Food Chain.” International Development Research Center. Canadian Crown. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-30618-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html>.
Delgado-Wise, Raul, and Humberto M. Corvarrubias. “The Reshaping of Mexican Labor Exports under NAFTA: Paradoxes and Challenges.” International Migration Review Fall 41.3 (2007): 656-679. Print.
Diaz-Romo, Patricia, and Samuel Salinas-Alvarez. “A Poisoned Culture: the case of the Indigenous Huicholes Farm Workers.” Ecojustice and Health: Indigenous Communities at Risk 11.1 (1998).The Journal of the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center. Abya Yala News. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://saiic.nativeweb.org/ayn/huichol.html>.
Farmingville. Dir. Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini. Camino Bluff Productions, 2004. DVD.
“Farmworkers – THE LEGAL CONTEXT OF’ EMPLOYMENT, THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM CONTEXT, SUCCESSIVE ETHNIC WAVES OF MIGRANTS.” Online Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6213/Farmworkers.html>.
Massey, Douglas S., Jorge Durand, and Nolan J. Malone. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration. Minneapolis: Russell Sage Foundation Publications, 2002. Print.
Santos, Rufino D. “Indigenous Migrant Workers Struggle Against Pesticides.” Information Services Latin America. ISLA. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://isla.igc.org/Features/Border/mex5.html>.
Schell, Greg. “Farmworker Exceptionalism under the Law: How the Legal System Contributes to Farmworker Poverty and Powerlessness.” The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers’ Lives, Labor, and Advocacy. New York: University of Texas, 2002. 139-166. Print.
Striffler, Steve. “We’re All Mexicans here: Poultry processing, Latino migration, and the transformation of class in the South”. 152-165.
Valenzuela, Jr. Abel, Nik Theodore, Edwin Melendez, and Ana Luz Gonzalez. “On the Corner: Day Labor in the United States.” Technical Report, UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty. Jan 2006.
Humane Borders
NPR is reporting on the border crossing statistics. It has been found that the number of people apprehended at the border is down while deaths are up. The US border policy is forcing people away from areas where it is easier to cross into remote and dangerous territory. It is not uncommon for the US Border Patrol to recover bodies and skeletons of those who did not survive the rugged terrain. One group who was apprehended had been walking for four days and was substantially dehydrated. One member of the Border Patrol commented that dire situations at home push people to consider these traumatic journeys and says that immigrants maybe blinded by possible health complications that result from an illegal crossing.
Humane Borders is a group that is trying to reduce the number of deaths at the border. The group has mapped deaths and has seen the remote areas at which people are traveling. They have seen a consistent 200 bodies a year even though the number of apprehensions has dropped. The founder of the group, Rev. Robin Hoover sees Washington policy of pushing migrants into harsh terrain as immoral. The NGO strives to offer humanitarian assistance to those trying to cross the border. They have over 100 water stations that are maintained along the US-Mexico border. Beyond provisions the group strives to start a public discourse, change US policy, allow for legal status and opportunities, and provide economic relief to those helping migrants.
I appreciate the work of these groups but I wonder how effective they truly are. The water is clearly important and I hope they are in these desolate areas they describe, although I would imagine that if these deaths are remote as they claim than they would not be. I wonder if it would also be possible to provide food as well. I would criticize the Border Control as negligent. I feel like they are depriving these people of their humanity by driving them to their death. It appears to me that unless there is wider broad sweeping immigration reform then these enforcement agencies will continue to shrug off responsibility. I found the news article to try to show the US Border Control as humane and the knights in shining armor, while it demonized the coyotes and immigrants, and also to show the Border Control as on the same side as Humane Borders but clearly they are opposites. One picks up the bodies while the other tries to prevent them.
Humane Borders. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. <http://www.humaneborders.org>.
Robbins, Ted. “U.S.-Mexico Border Crossing Grows More Dangerous : NPR.” NPR. National Public Radio, 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113035382>.
Illegal Immigrants Preyed on by Fraudulent Lawyers
A well known immigration lawyer was making promises to fix illegal immigrants’ status. It is believed that he was lying and stealing from many of them. Mr. Alcala was indicted for immigration fraud. One of his most brazen acts was to apply for false work visas using famous soccer player’s names. It is believed he acquired over 5000 visas through fraud and forgery. He also instructed individuals to blatantly lie to authorities. The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center made a statement that unscrupulous attorneys are turning to immigrants as easy prey as they are unable and unwilling to fight back. The American Immigration Lawyers Association stated that there will always be shadowy lawyers willing to take advantage of immigrants and should be indicted or arrested. Should he be convicted of visa fraud and conspiracy to smuggle aliens into the United States he will face 10 years in prison. The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center began a public service campaign warning people of immigration scams including those perpetrated by lawyers. The federal officials are stuck in a quagmire in attempting to figure out what to do with the immigrants who obtained papers and the companies that were complicit with Mr. Alcala. Other lawyers are now faced with immigrants who fear losing their residency. Another lawyer, Mr. Tarin, commented, “The biggest harm here is that immigration lawyers have traditionally been the only real bridge between immigrants coming to this country and the American dream. This case undermines not only that trust, but the system as a whole.”
The article shows the issues that the assistance and advocacy groups face when hustlers take advantage of immigrants. By taking advantage of immigrants who are viewed as docile these scam artists threaten to undo the system of help groups provide. This article also points out that there is a problem with the system as it exists and how it allows for individuals to slip through bureaucratic cracks and how the system is not efficient enough to catch all of them. The closing quote made by the lawyer is telling in how the honest individuals feel about those that threaten their work and the larger system. It seems that many advocates fear that this last bridge could be burned and there would be no longer a link between the American dream and immigrants.
Works Cited
Frosch, Dan. “Some Lawyers Said to Prey on Illegal Immigrants.” The New York Times. NY Times, 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/us/15utah.html?scp=7&sq=mexican%20immigration&st=cse>.
Recession and a Smugglers’ Village
The article discusses the economic recession’s effect on a village known to assist in illegal border crossings. As the recession has gone on business has been halved in the town of El Sasabe. Business has gone down because people are afraid of not being able to find work. This dramatic decline in business is shown along side statistics of arrests on the border. Those that used to have full business are now commenting on seeing a tide of people heading back to Mexico. It is thought that when the recession ends, illegal border crossing will pick back up. Another theory regarding the decline has to do with violence both from the drug cartel and US border patrol. Several ‘coyotes’ have been killed to make way for marijuana trafficking.
This article shows that illegal immigration has an economic benefit for both nations. That both countries require this flow of immigrants for economic survival. The US needs cheap labor while Mexico needs customers in border towns. The recession is illustrating that jobs, but more generally, economic opportunity is key to illegal immigration. So long as there is an economic need this immigration pattern will continue. The author also makes a point that so long as there is a call for jobs immigrants will face terrible and violent conditions in their pursuit of hope across the border.
Works Cited
Reuters. “Recession Ends Boom For Mexican Smugglers’ Village.” The New York Times. NY Times, 26 Aug. 2009. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/26/world/international-uk-mexico-usa-migrants.html?scp=6&sq=mexican%20immigration&st=cse>.
Feminisms Second Wave: The US and Mexico
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Feminism’s Second Wave was the fight for women’s autonomy over their bodies best described by the phrase ‘the personal is political’ and ‘this is my body’. Women saw that their bodies in the private sphere were being controlled by the public when they got together and noticed many of them had the same issues. Women fought for the right to make decisions regarding their health. Women also fought for self determination in terms of reproduction. Women also fought for the end of abuse and violence against women such as rape.
In the US the second wave of feminism also known as the women’s liberation movement lasted from the 1960s to the 1980s. Consciousness raising, sexual politics, and radical feminist theory were all key components. The 1960s saw the acknowledgement of the discrimination of women in all aspects of American life. There was a push for social transformation through the passing of laws and policies. The book, Feminine Mystique was published in 1963 and the Equal Pay Act was also passed in the same year. The women’s liberation movement built of the Civil Rights and black power movements of the same era. Women participated in counterculture and student movements. The sexual revolution occurred with the introduction of birth control. This made motherhood no longer the only destiny for women. Many legal changes also occurred during this time. The nondiscrimination clause, Title XII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was influential in this regard. In the same year, NOW was founded. Women were also influential in the protests and eventual withdrawal from Vietnam. The first national political event WSP occurred. In the 1970s the women’s liberation movement focused on institutional and legal change. The historic Roe Vs Wade occurred in 1973 granted the right to abort. In 1974 women could not be discriminated against during credit transactions. In 1978 pregnant women could not be discriminated against. In the 1980s Congress agreed that harassment in the workplace was a violation of women’s civil rights.
While in Mexico the second wave was more of a new feminism. It’s origins lie in the entrance into the labor market. There were also greater numbers of women in higher education. Women participated in counterculture and student movements. Many groups formed to do consciousness raising and they took up the slogan ‘the personal is political’. In the 1970s 6 major groups formed; Mujeres en Accion Solidaria, Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres, Movimiento de Libaracion de la Mujer, Colectivo la Revuelta, Movimiento Feminista Mexicano, and Colectivo de Mujeres. Women were unable to join politics and remain in these groups due to authoritarian rule. The National Women’s Year event set up by the UN was attended by only one feminist group and thus these groups remained invisible. Article 4 of the Constitution gave equality before the law in 1975. The protection of pregnant workers and the ending of the prohibition of women on night shifts also occurred. 1980 saw the introduction of PRONAM for the national advancement of women which is a form of mainstreaming and the precedent for all women’s commissions in Mexico today. Feminist media and groups also became prevalent. Through the 1970s to 1980s three main issues were focused on; the decriminalization of abortion, sexual education, and the stopping of violence against women. It became important to unite and focus on main issues rather than fragmenting.
Gender as a Useful Category
Biological differences are used to create social characteristics for people. Gender is the socialization of people into certain non-fluid social roles that are culturally and historically fixed. Gender is a socially constructed category of roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. These gender categories are binaries defined in terms of one another which are exclusive and not interchangeable. Gender is not only about women, as it is commonly used, but about both men and women.
Scott elaborates on this definition by saying that gender is based on difference and signifies power relations. Feminists have begun to use gender as a way to detail social organization. For gender to have become a category of analysis, the term sex had to be rejected.
Historians used gender as a synonym for women because it was a neutral apolitical term. Later it was used to imply the study of men as well and explore cultural constructions and relations among the sexes. Feminist historians can be divided into three categories. The first group uses physical biology to explain the patriarchy. The second group uses Marxism to explain gender. The third group uses psychoanalysis to explain the construction of the subject either through the unconscious or through a basic essence of self.
Scott’s definition discusses cultural symbols, normative concepts, kinship, and subjective identity and says that gender is an element of social relationships based on the sex and signifies of power
The Global Women’s Movement
The article discusses the plurality of women’s movements that exist. The author expresses that there are a range of struggles against gender equality. We see that this is a movement lacking unity and a common goal because women are contextualized. This means that women are inherently connected to their class, race, location, and other factors. The movement needs to be connected to a larger social project and women’s movements tend to focus on gender identity or social transformation. One of the social conditions that is sought to be changed is the rejection of patriarchal privilege. The author then examines characteristics and diversity. The movement faces a difficulty in that the global sisterhood is defined by a privileged minority. The author explains that diversity defines the movement and that these struggles arise when we fail to recognize them. There is an eruption of feminist politics that strive to improve the condition and position of women. The movement takes on international and global proportions. There is a focus on understanding how global trends affect women locally. The networking of vertical and horizontal groups coupled with UN conferences is shown to be key. The author then illustrates symbols which include the spiral, pyramid, and the patchwork quilt as representative of the women’s movement. In the 3rd chapter there is a tracing of history. The 1960′s and 1970′s are when the debates on development took place. These debates focused on using the market and the trickle down method to eliminate poverty but fails. The 1980′s ended this debate and in the 1990′s there was a resurgence that focused on trade.
Lamas
The article opens with a discussion of the feminist movement. The groups have not been able to sustain or renew their political impact. The movement has remained disorganized and fragmented. The author believes that the poor political performance contrasts with the creativity shown by feminists. Feminism as a movement and its actors have become recognized as important in the system. The author questions why feminism’s expression in Mexico is not as strong as other parts of the world. She attributes it to the lack of historical political mobilization, influence of the church, and machismo. Lamas notes that Mexican feminists could count on their family’s for domestic support and therefore did not experience rebellion that was common in North America and Europe. The feminists were able to initiate a dialogue with the state but it was hard won. The UN Conference for International Women played a role in Mexican policy. Mexico did not want to appear backward. Mexico invited feminists to help reform the law but ultimately this led to a break between feminist movements and those involved in the government reform. Although the government looked into the issue of clandestine abortion they did not act on the recommendations received. Another group fought and won the right for rape victims to remain anonymous. Groups in different Mexican states did not have a strong relation with each other and thus were unable to move to a level of national coordination. The feminist movement had focused on opposing rather than negotiating with the state. This meant that the movement operated in a fragmented and inefficient matter. The movement focused on electing women to posts of political decision making. The author believes that today the movement has stifled. The author concludes with several key dilemmas. Women must work to improve the position from within the existing order while trying to destroy that order, they need participate in and remain distant from politics, struggling to have a presence and question that presence, and demanding rights while acknowledging that freedom does not depend on the extension of rights.
The Personal is Political
The article opens with a brief summary of feminist activism throughout the 1900s up until the 1960s. It then goes on to summarize the 1960s and relevant events that are significant to the decade. Evan’s opens with an anecdote about the WSP on trial by the HUAC. She uses this to demonstrate the power of the mothers. She relates this event to overall feeling of a newfound rights and sisterhood.
The next section details the signs that were significant to the changing times. The noticing of the ‘trapped housewife’, new civic idealism, the ‘dual role’ acknowledgment, birth control and recreational sex. Evans states that this lead to a self examination in America. She believes that the mother image no longer was appropriate. She also explores how the suburban housewife evolved an activist lifestyle out of a need to fill empty time. Towards the end of the section she examines African American perspective and the fictive kin network.
The minority section details how churches and mamas were influential in the black community. She also notes that these grassroots movements had more room for women in leadership roles. The chicana movement was inspired by the African American struggle and was most effective because the focus was on values that were important to the women.
The final section deals with the reemergence of feminism by 2 groups; professionals and younger radicals. The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was created as well as numerous other acts, laws, and commissions. Among reports, the influential Feminine Mystique was published. Most importantly in the section is Title VII, at the time it was the strongest legal tool available to women. Evans also illustrates that women were unorganized and did not have the political advocates needed. Numerous organizations such as NOW were created to fulfill those needs. The ‘women’s liberation movement’ grew out of more radical critiques. Evans argues that the lack of structure contributed to the growth. The article closes by making statements regarding the power and importance of certain political moves. The author believes that they were able to make great challenges but at the same time were unable to understand the importance of the movement they started.
