BY: AZUCENA DUARTE
Azucena Duarte is a second-year M.A. student concentrating on Security, Strategy, and Statecraft in the Americas. Azucena is a native of the borderland Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, her background and career path has allowed her to continue her research interests in transnational organized crime, human rights, migration, and security in Mexico and South America.
In 2023, for the first time in two decades, Mexico celebrated being the number one exporter to the United States. Tellingly, 2023 also marked the thirty year anniversary of the first femicides being registered in Mexico. Currently, 11 women are murdered and 23 disappear in Mexico every day, and more than 50 percent of the workforce is female in Mexico’s industry. Although women are critical to the success of these industries, every 10 hours another femicide occurs. Foreign investment in Mexico has benefited the nation for example the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement where Mexico received 36 billion foreign direct investment. However, more than half of the workforce in Mexico live under informal jobs and earn the minimum wage. This article will discuss how demographic marginalization of maquilas and lack of protection from the Mexican government plays a role in fueling violence against women in Mexico. Both State actors and private corporations have failed to protect the country’s female workforce.
The bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico not only operates on a cultural and geographic level but also on an economic opportunity level that gives these countries tight unity. Sixty years ago, the maquiladora program was introduced in Mexico, to create an industrialization program that would increase foreign investment and at the same time stimulate the country’s internal markets. Maquilas gained strong recognition when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was approved in 1994, as it facilitated the manufacturing of foreign companies establishing themselves in Mexico under the jurisdiction and legislation of the State. Border cities were the main areas where maquilas were integrated. Today, Tijuana, Baja California has more than 500 maquilas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua has more than 300 maquilas. Nearshoring has undoubtedly brought Mexico economic success. The real question is how successful nearshoring has been for Mexican women. The work overload women face in the maquilas, as well as the low wages, discrimination, and lack of working skills gained have transformed the nation’s successful development nearshoring into an unequal escalation of women's growth and protection.
The incremental rise of foreign investment in border cities has increased job opportunities and benefited Mexico economically. However, like in many other regions, nearshoring has brought gentrification; it has had a positive impact on Mexican industry, and it has also displaced Mexican workers. The Mexican government and Maquilas can no longer blind an eye to the unsafe environment working women must face in the country. Low wages, high housing prices, and lack of infrastructure have limited worker access to safe housing areas in border cities and safety. In Ciudad Juárez, properties rented by foreigners have increased by 40 percent, which has caused a high demand for housing and the displacement of local workers. The average salary of a maquila worker in Ciudad Juárez is around 8,000 Mexican pesos per month and the cost of rent is around 20,000 Mexican pesos. In addition, the lack of infrastructure plays a key role in violence against women. Many of these local workers are female heads of household who are forced to move to the urban periphery and work night shifts to take care of their children. The lack of security and infrastructure in these periphery areas promotes greater risks of violence. Even though maquilas have provided transportation services, there still exists a significant lack of efficiency. City infrastructure has failed female citizens as urban design in border cities offers limited security. Similarly, the private transportation services hired by companies are not obligated by the State to follow any protocol or regulation. Therefore, transportation services only cover certain areas of the city at certain stop points. Women are obligated to walk in dangerous areas in the middle of the night running a high risk of becoming a victim of assault, abuse, or murder. Even more, border cities remain among the most dangerous and unsafe cities in the nation. Last year Ciudad Juárez was announced as an epicenter of violence against women with a total of 155 murders of women, and Tijuana was among the five cities with the most femicides in the nation. Now, with rising housing prices and limited access to safe housing areas, the lives of these female workers remain at high risk. The growing inequality in the nation has played a role in the unequal distribution of opportunities to women in the maquilas. The minimum wage has been increased during Lopez Obrador’s administration, however, 4,379 Mexican pesos are needed monthly to cover the cost of basic needs when the average wage of a maquila worker is 5,200 Mexican pesos monthly. Consequently, women in Mexico work three more times on household chores than men, while also working formal jobs such as in the maquila. Women face unequal access to finance opportunities, less resting hours, and better job skills.
Low wage salaries and lack of infrastructure are not the only obstacles; other extensive factors that influence violence against Mexican women are the systems that maquilas operate. Mexico is home to thousands of maquilas from all around the world and nearshoring is an instrument to this capital attraction. However, intensive working hours, strict no-pregnancy policies, and exploitation of women’s bodies are factors that have not been unfolded by the Mexican authorities and are often disregarded by maquilas. The inability of working women to create seniority, value, and growth in their professional careers marks a limited economic opportunity to seek better and safer housing. According to the Early Institute, from 2012 to 2021, there were 894 cases of discrimination against pregnant women. During the pandemic, many working women were obligated to reduce their working hours, others were obligated to work, those who refused to work were fired, and some received less than half of their wages. Moreover, there were reported cases of spontaneous terminations to prevent senior compensation. Many of the women working in maquilas are obligated to accept minimum wages, demanding hours, and poor working conditions due to their obligations as household heads. Even though Mexico has labor laws to protect worker’s rights these are not adequately enforced. Women’s obligation as household heads and the existing limited economic opportunity have led them to live in the periphery areas of the city where higher criminal activity rates occur.
Maquilas are located in strategic cities where their geographic proximity to the United States plays an advantageous role. However, it is impossible to ignore the unsafe living conditions and high violence faced everyday in these regions. The success of nearshoring is not exclusive to the geographic location of the maquilas; the labor force contributes to the economic increment of the company. Mexico and maquilas must act properly to respect and protect the rights of working women as well as provide safe areas. Boosting foreign direct investment should not be the only interest of Mexico, workers play a primary key role in the success of this nearshoring story. Women should not be abandoned and forgotten, the government must respond to these concerns and seek at all cost the protection of women.
Photo: Workers of TECMA, a cross-border plant (maquiladora) are seen on September 29 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state. The company has about 3,000 employees and gives its services to more than 25 clients of the world. (Jesus Alcazar/AFP via Getty Images)