Maquiladoras:
Typically low cost manufacturing plants established on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border.3 Products are sent from U.S. to Mexico to be assembled and then shipped back to U.S. as finished goods.1 Costs are kept low through low wages as well as an agreement between U.S. and Mexico to only tax the value of the labor added while in Mexico. While Maquiladoras were first established in the 1970’s, they saw a boom after the signing of NAFTA. Maquiladoras were established not only as an opportunity for low cost manufacturing but in the hopes of decreasing illegal immigration of Mexicans to U.S.2
NAFTA:
A free trade agreement between Mexico, U.S., and Canada established in 1994 to eliminate trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas in order to foster trade between the countries.4 NAFTA was hoped to boost economic growth in Mexico, as an increase in standard of living in Mexico would ultimately benefit all three countries of the agreement. Many economists at the time of the NAFTA signing feared the loss of American jobs to the cheap labor force of Mexico, characterized by what Ross Perot coined “a giant sucking sound to the south.”5
For the actual text of NAFTA as well as further information on its implications please refer to http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/
Ethical Environment:
A new concept proposed to the business world as an awareness of the ethical and moral sensibilities of those who manage and the consequences of their management. This awareness is intrinsically tied to one’s cultural context. Used to propose that successfully economic environment is not sufficient to justify a possibly unethical worker/management environment.6
Disposability:
In this context applied to the women workers of Mexican Maquiladora plants, the continual waning of a woman’s value with the decrease in her labor worth. A woman’s value in this context is a commodity to be used up, inevitably over time. Tied into cultural contexts, disposability ultimately blames the woman for the result of her own value deterioration.7
Typically low cost manufacturing plants established on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border.3 Products are sent from U.S. to Mexico to be assembled and then shipped back to U.S. as finished goods.1 Costs are kept low through low wages as well as an agreement between U.S. and Mexico to only tax the value of the labor added while in Mexico. While Maquiladoras were first established in the 1970’s, they saw a boom after the signing of NAFTA. Maquiladoras were established not only as an opportunity for low cost manufacturing but in the hopes of decreasing illegal immigration of Mexicans to U.S.2
NAFTA:
A free trade agreement between Mexico, U.S., and Canada established in 1994 to eliminate trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas in order to foster trade between the countries.4 NAFTA was hoped to boost economic growth in Mexico, as an increase in standard of living in Mexico would ultimately benefit all three countries of the agreement. Many economists at the time of the NAFTA signing feared the loss of American jobs to the cheap labor force of Mexico, characterized by what Ross Perot coined “a giant sucking sound to the south.”5
For the actual text of NAFTA as well as further information on its implications please refer to http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/
Ethical Environment:
A new concept proposed to the business world as an awareness of the ethical and moral sensibilities of those who manage and the consequences of their management. This awareness is intrinsically tied to one’s cultural context. Used to propose that successfully economic environment is not sufficient to justify a possibly unethical worker/management environment.6
Disposability:
In this context applied to the women workers of Mexican Maquiladora plants, the continual waning of a woman’s value with the decrease in her labor worth. A woman’s value in this context is a commodity to be used up, inevitably over time. Tied into cultural contexts, disposability ultimately blames the woman for the result of her own value deterioration.7
Worker Exploitation:Punctuated by low wages and long hours performing repetitive low skill tasks, worker exploitation can be defined as “the utilization of labor power of another person without giving a just or equivalent return.”8 Some scholars have argued that the very nature of Multination Corporations (MNCs) in Mexico rely on worker exploitation through the cultural norm of Mexican patriarchy over Mexican women.3
Transnational Feminist Theory:
The concept of Transnational Feminist Theory (TFT) requires recognizing that women globally do not have the same experiences.9 This requires a dissolution of gender essentialism (that all women regardless of culture experience the same) and cultural essentialism (that all people of one culture regardless of gender experience the same).10 This is vital when studying the situation of Mexican women in Maquiladoras and proposing cultural change from the perspective of a western, non-Mexican, woman.
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