index of 2005 conference papers

Women’s Body:
Between “Burreras” and Maquiladora Workers

Yolanda Angulo
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger multidisciplinary Project (with the tentative: “Women in Confinement”), now being developed at the Centro de Estudios Genealógicos, A. C. among various researches, most of them young philosophers and social scientists, the purpose of which is to answer questions such as the following: What are the most important characteristics of the various forms of feminine subjectivity nowadays? Under what circumstances, social practices, power-knowledge relations, games of truth and internalization processes did they emerge? How will the clarification of such concepts can help to achieve better forms of life, starting with “daring to think differently”, as Michel Foucault used to say? Finally, all the foregoing aims finally to try different ways towards social critique.

This paper is only a sketch of a research about women’s body as a factor of differentiation of current forms of feminine subjectivity, within the framework of labor, taken as a contemporary form of “confinement”.

In order to provide this brief presentation with some degree of concretion to avoid losing ourselves in an ocean of concepts, we shall take as leading guide a few examples of activities performed by two groups of women in Mexico ’s Northern Border (Juarez), as a means to obtain money. The first activity is the one carried out, by approximately 50%, by young women workers (nowadays referred to with the euphemism “maquila operators”, or simply “maquiladoras”; regarding this issue, see Balderas 2002, 29) in the maquila industry, and it is comprised within the legal structure of the Country. The other activity is carried out by the so called “burreras”, “burras” or “borregas”, women of all ages, the task of whom is to transport illicit drugs, often across the border to the United States , and which is, of course, an illegal source of income.

An analysis of women’s body in the working process, as our main category, cannot be carried out without incorporating those other activities that take place during spare time. I will argue, consequently, that both labor and ludic aspects constitute very important moments regarding corporal manifestations, through which subjectivities emerge. But they can also be seen as two problematic fields in which feminine body is crossed by the sharp, astonished, incisive and many times overwhelmed look of scientists, journalists, activists or moralists. Such “looks” generate discourses to describe, examine, explain, clarify concepts, phenomenons and situations, but they also classify, normalize, discipline, judge, approve or disapprove, either openly, as moralists or dogmatists do, or tacitly and unconsciously by many others.

Currently we find many investigations on maquila workers, and they tend to increase because of the violence suffered by women in all the Country but especially in the northern part, violence that has become uncontrollable for governmental authorities, ONGs, academic faculties and society in general.

During the first years of the maquila industry, good Samaritans used to teach certain issues like domestic economy, how to spend their spare time, read the Bible, etc. to former female maquila workers, who were then a majority compared with men workers. Currently the issue is no longer about “domestic economy”, but about survival: “My name is Martha –says one testimony—and I am 34 years old. I started working in Juarez maquiladoras at the age of 16. Currently my shift is from midnight to six A.M. Due to this working schedule, and because I am a widow, I have to leave my three kids alone every night. When I come out of my house I am afraid that something might happen to me or to one of my children that spend all night by themselves, due to what has been happening to women in Juarez . The only though of people murdering women on the streets makes me very nervous so I am very cautious regarding people around me on my way to work. Not to be so scared, I stick together with other women who work the same shift and who live in my neighborhood. So we all go together and protect each other. All my working partners in the maquiladoras are afraid. When we get a chance to talk about murdered workers, about the women in Juarez , we talk about the unjust situation and ask ourselves what is going on with the police, why there are no more police, especially during the night. Maybe due to the fact that we are women we mean nothing to the government or to the maquiladoras where we work. We have learned to live bearing this fear quietly because we need the job. Maquiladoras say that they are taking the required prevention steps to protect us, that they have provided whistles and organize conferences about personal defense. But we do not need any pitos, what we need is better wages, surveillance posts, transportation to and from work and public services such as public lighting in our neighborhoods. God willing, this nightmare will soon be over and those responsible for so many crimes will be punished so women in Juarez may live and work in peace.” (www.cfomaquiladoras.org)

But this is not the issue with burreras, whose clandestine activities remain aside, in the shadow of illegalities. However, although it is not explicit in any discourses, women that deal with illicit drugs are fulfilling a more “material” corporal function, just as its nickname suggests: burrera.

In both activities, namely those associated with drug-dealing (consumption and sale of illicit drugs) and the maquiladora (expansion markets always looking to lower costs) women’s body, as the core of all sights, is trapped in the narrowest circle of what can be graphically illustrated as a concentric chain that goes from the most intimate relationships all the way through the globalization process, resulting in the emergence of new forms of feminine subjectivity, not completely understood at this moment.

Within the context of a philosophical research that seriously takes pluralism in consideration –a genuine genealogical feature—, strictly speaking, one cannot speak of “woman”, because this would be an unacceptable abstraction. So each one of the various groups or social classes (understood in a much broader and flexible sense than the Marxist conceptualization), shares some characteristics that converge in certain forms of subjectivity, which can be isolated from others. A genealogical survey must show how such forms of subjectivity have emerged historically until reaching their current status, as a result of hexogen and endogen factors, which, using Michel Foucault´s genealogical vocabulary, we shall call “social practices” and “internalization processes”. But at the same time it must shed some light on the conditions of current society, the power-knowledge relations, the games of truth and the multiplicity of subjectivities that go through it and shape it.

The relation between corporality and subjectivity is intertwined, on the one hand, within the framework of social practices (work and fun) spare time, as well as in the corresponding discourses; and on the other hand, within the “internalization processes” that women themselves have developed, which can be detected in the descriptions and redescriptions women make about themselves in the vocabularies (Rorty 1989, 51) they use to express their longings, in their critiques to society and in their fears and values.

Since maquiladoras opened in Mexico (information points out a date between 1965 and 1969, when RCA Victor started operations in Juarez ), border towns were the first to welcome them. Dozens of women soon found jobs they had never –or always—dreamed about: not as bartenders or maids or strippers (jobs people look down on, find denigrating or even morally evil, in countries like Mexico, especially back in the sixties), but as a plant worker, they would have a better social status, own their own money and enjoy greater freedom. This situation was valid for those girls born in Juarez as well as for those who had emigrated from the country of the state of Chihuahua and farther.

But the dream-come-true was not always a good one. In the beginning an important sector of those young girls felt free due to economical independence: “Many girls who worked in the northern border left their rural or indigenous communities with the hope of breaking the chains of the family ties”. But the so hoped for freedom and independence were soon questioned or restricted:

1. Restricted by their own families that demanded a portion or the whole salary from such girls: “they usually send a portion of the money they send to their parents or siblings.” (http://www.icl-fi.org/espanol/oldsite/juarez.htm).

2. Questioned by society by drawing limits to thir freedom to dress, undress, talk and ways of spending money.

3. Questioned by society and by the authorities as one of the probable causes of the hundreds of “feminicides”: "those girls move around certain places, attend certain type of people". (Francisco Barrio, Ibid.)

So we can affirm that the sixties marked a rupture in the life of Mexico ’s northern border, since the day when a group of proud young female workers took a bus to attend to their first job in a “maquila”. Currently there are about 200,000 maquiladora employees in Juarez ( www.cfomaquiladoras.org, 2005), and the impact has not only been felt in the direct workers of such industry, but in all society, since no one is the same any more: urban physiognomy has changed, as well as the way people think, feel and express themselves, regardless of their insight as sympathizers, critics, apologists or detractors of maquila workers.

New forms of subjectivity emerged when bodies became fastened to the production line, moving at its pace: “Work in maquiladoras is mechanic and repetitive. What matters is to have agile fingers, be young, have a huge need of the job and be willing to bear anything.” And at the same time, one must be willing to suffer illness or deformities previously unknown:

“My sister started working in SILVANIA on January 30 1974 , from there she went on to TUBOS ELÉCTRICOS in 1981 and finally to HONEYWELL plant in Juarez where she died. The cause of her illness, according to the hematologist who attended her at the hospital, was a fourth degree anemia, caused by acetone, which is the substance she handled daily in her job She was only thirty years old! During the service I found out that another worker had died during that same date." “A 22 year old girl who had been working for six years in the maquilas says she had "lasted longer than others". Her fingers are malformed and in both hands she has a huge brownish callus from the tip of her thumb to the wrist. When she looks at her hands, she sadly says: "They are not going to pay for my hands!" (Conversation cited by Sandra Arenal in her book Sangre joven, in: http://www.icl-fi.org/espanol/oldsite/juarez.htm)

But subjectivity emerges not only from the body submitted to the tyranny and suffocating rhythm of the line, but also from free corporal expressions only possible outside work, on the street, at home, but mostly in dancing halls. This is even more radical for female workers that emigrate from the country: “back home, parties are very far away, there are no buses, they end very early, and you must get a ride to go back, and if you did not arrive on time, [you would be] beaten with a belt! When I started going dancing here it was quite different, there was disco music, places were more cheerful, you would be free to dance, and since my mother was not here, I became more liberal.” (Balderas 2002, 97-98)

In our image of concentric circles, urban workers have greater “freedom” to avoid the inconvenience of distance, the severe corporal punishments still practiced in those areas, but they also feel more free during the working process: “Back in Durango, I was used to hard work [...] when I got here I found maquila work very easy.” (Balderas 2002, 98)

New social practices and discourse internalization produce breaks and new forms of subjectivity: “I will never go back to the ranch; over there you are not able to do anything because people start talking, and over here no one bothers you, I will never go back.” (Balderas 2002, 98) In fact, such negative indicates an emerging subjectivity that has already assumed new vocabularies for self descriptions and interpretations of the world.

So maquila workers had to adjust, in a short period of time, to alien working processes, as well as to production and consumption practices, which must have appeared to some of them as a straight jacket. Such practices lead, first, to an objectification processes that can be found in discourses that describe women as “objects”, with terms such as “labor force”, “workers”, “operators”, etc. Secondly, to subjectification processes that can be found in discourses that describe women as moral subjects, with terms either positive, such as “subject of rights”, “responsible”, “hard working”, or negative, such as “dissolute” “immoral” or “libertine”. Finally, to the formation of the subjectivity that emerges when the self assimilation of the new social practices and the internalization of discourses, codes, values and ethical norms converge to create a moral subject. (“Internalization” does not necessarily mean “acceptance”, Foucault 1988, 26-28, Varela 1997, 124)

As one can see, there is now in Mexico an ample sector of women’s population that formally or informally supports the national economy, topic that has been discussed in many forums and other panels, such as the one that congregates us now here in San Miguel de Allende, where people are looking for better social and working conditions for women as part of a struggle to enforce their rights and dignity. Such struggles constitute a frontal, decided and evident exercise of power. Nonetheless, one must be careful not to obtain the opposed result, which could lead us to hide, overlook or minimize forms of resistance that are continuously practiced in silence, in the anonymity of everyday life and activities, without any boast by many people of both genders, various ages and social status.

Since the first years of the establishment of maquiladoras, female workers have been associated with immoral behavior, free spending habits and many kinds of vices. To eradicate such vices and the negative impact they might have in the remaining population, various groups of well intended people were organized, the most conservative of which, were those formed with good Samaritan bourgeoisie women, for the purpose of “teaching” those girls good moral habits, how to distribute their income and how to spend their free time. Deep inside there was a kind of despise towards young women who had suddenly become the head of the family –economically speaking—, or towards adolescents who were imposing new life stiles and visions of the world. More than thirty years later, the perspective towards maquiladora female workers has divided society among: a) those who remain indifferent towards the problems faced by that sector of the productive life of Mexico, such as the violence perpetrated against women (Varela 1997, 122); b) those who openly or explicitly feel that maquiladora workers are some kind of “pariah” and that they “deserve” the criminal actions held against them; c) those who, acting like ostrich, prefer to close their eyes to the problem, placing themselves “beyond good or evil”; d) those who want to hide or overlook the issue to avoid Juarez bad reputation; and e) those who have become paladins of the cause against violence (some authentic some trying to take advantage of it) or of maquila workers in general.

Now, if the norm, as from the establishment of maquiladoras, was that all “poor” women had to look to that industry for their economic support, many refused to follow such norm and remained in the traditional jobs, such as bartenders, strippers, domestic workers, etc., or became involved in new practices, such as the emergent and prosperous business of drug dealing. Although many stigma are still pending over maquiladora female worker’s shoulders, nowadays, there is a balance between discourses who speak of them as “good girls” or “victims” who prefer to earn a low but honest salary on the one side, and discourses the approach of which is still that of despise or that assume a paternalistic insight. But the real evil women are now those devoted to drug dealing.

So, how did these women, most of them mothers, become involved in such terrible business? On the one hand, we must consider the refusal to be subsumed by the plant, a specific form of confinement and use of the body, for very little Money. Such refusal provides a relative autonomy and consequently a greater scope of freedom. On the other hand, among the poorest people, this is the fastest possible way, accessible to them, to obtain the maximum benefit with a minimum effort. Although risky and illusory (the real high wages are obtained by men, and women are more vulnerable to get caught by the police and incarcerated), this can be construed as a form of resistance in front o an economic system that illusorily offers to everybody, just as rich countries do, all consumption products, dream-like ways of living, contrasting with a reality of scarcity and minimum opportunities to accede to such world. The body that in its activity is a “burden beast” can really enjoy any products reachable for those who have the money to pay for them. This would be a possible scenario for burreras, but in reality it is not so, because, at least according to the inmates I interviewed in Juarez CERESO (CENTRO DE ADAPTACIÓN SOCIAL), most of them had used the money earned for a specific purpose related with their corresponding families. The burrera is the last link in the drug dealing chain, is the one most exposed, the one that offers her body for easy immolation and the one that obtains less benefits in the long term.

Conclusion

As a result of the maquiladoras, the emergence of new forms of feminine subjectivity was felt as aggressive for many social sectors that reacted against what they call a culture of excess, stressing instead a culture of labor and modesty, by educating more religious, laborious, tidy and responsible women. This produced cracks which must be accounted for. Paradoxically, along with the maquiladora industry boom, drug dealing also flourished and tended its nets throughout all social sectors, causing internal breaks or struggles: between bourgeoisies and working classes, between drug cartels, between locals and immigrants. But, in general, culturally and socially there have been no strong confrontations or ruptures between high bourgeoisie, which has developed high a index of tolerant regarding individuals, and groups associated with illegal activities, provided that, however, there are enough elements to identify them as “one of us” (Rorty).

The real confrontation is somewhere else: first, between bourgeoisie women and salaried workers the behavior of whom is not worthy of “respect”, according to the former. This usually happens when resistance forms are evident, expressed through the body, especially in the dancing hall, with the ingestion of alcoholic beverages, immoral fashion, bad language, etc. Such conduct is usually interpreted by sympathetic analysts as necessary transgressions, but I understand it as a form of exercise of power to achieve a certain degree of freedom resisting them to submit their body 24 hours a day. Marx’s dichotomy between labor time and spare time is no longer an issue of reducing working hours, but how women workers can enjoy their time off freely without having to wear another straight jacket imposed by society and government “for their own good” or for “their safety”.

If in fact night activities constitute a transgression to norms imposed by morality, this is only a first moment that is followed by resistance, which is a more active element of the power struggle.

It is also easy to detect –and at due time, face— powers forthcoming from confinement in the plant, the lack of services, from official and non official discourses, paternalistic and maternalistic that cross women’s corporality openly and boldly. But it is not that simple to face, not even detect, discursive practices that do not seem to have any relationship with corporality, because they appear isolated, unconnected and consequently innocuous in a context which is presented as purified.

Another struggle is fought between people who were born in Juarez, defending what they consider their right to the urban space, their cultural and even “racial” superiority (we are good, working people, white, tall and decent”, they say about themselves), and immigrants trying to conquer other spheres of that same space and trying to defend their looks (a different physiognomy), expressions, languages and other cultural features, the legitimate defense of which is endorsed by the Constitution.

Finally, from bourgeois classes several groups emerged to help, protect, support, educate and provide council for women workers, occasionally with normalizing purposes. But since norms are not imposed without resistance, some women chose the path to easy money, while others manifested their resistance with “immoral” conducts, in their way of dressing, having fun or relating to their families. The following table sums up what has been exposed.

Bibliography

Angulo, Yolanda (2003): Encuesta y entrevistas, en el CERESO de Cd. Juárez.

Balderas, Jorge (2002): Mujeres, antros y estigmas en la noche juarense, Solar, Chihuahua.

Elias, Norbert (1997): El proceso de la civilización, FCE, México.

Foucault, Michel (1999): Vigilar y castigar: nacimiento de la prisión, Siglo XXl, México.

— (2000) Los Anormales, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.

— (1995) Microfísica del poder , La Piqueta, Madrid.

— (1998): Vida de los hombres infames, La piqueta, Madrid.

— (1992), La genealogía del racismo, La Piqueta, Madrid.

— (1988): Historia de la sexualidad, Vol. 2 el uso de los placeres, Siglo XXI, México.

— (1991): Saber y verdad, La piqueta, Madrid.

Rorty, Richard (1989): Contingency, Irony and Solidarity, Cambridge Univ. Press.

Varela, Julia (1997): Nacimiento de la mujer burguesa, La Piqueta, Madrid.

Web pages:

http://www.icl-fi.org/espanol/oldsite/juarez.htm

Comité fronterizo de obrer@s: www.cfomaquiladoras.org

index of 2005 conference papers