discussion on "Women and Change at the U.S.-Mexico Border" ch. 1 & 2

Women and Change At The U.S. Mexico Border

1. Women at the Border Foundations and Frameworks by Ellen R. Hansen and Doreen J. Mattingly
• Feminist scholarship: Women are portrayed as “active agents” not “passive victims (3).
• U.S. Mexico border- How is it perceived by native people in Mexico? How is it perceived by Americans (4)?
• The border is considered by native people as a division of space, and they often ignore its presence in their daily lives (4).
• Drawing of parallels between the division of space and categorizing people as “Mexican” and “American.” Both of these ideas “obscure” rather than “reveal” information (4).
• By definition, a border is, “a political boundary between two countries. (5)”
• Within the border a lot happens…1. people identify themselves 2. agencies are created 3. settlement is established 4. economy and politics arise and begin functioning (5). Are there any other results of the border?
• The main result following the establishment of the border was the initiation of the Border Industrialization Program in 1965 (5) What did this program specifically do?
• In 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) changed the economy of Mexico, and the number of women employees has dropped significantly (6).
• NAFTA divided the economy while the earlier establishment of the U.S. Mexico border divided the land physically (6).
• Economic contrast: low-wage jobs and reduced government spending on the Mexico side of the border. Also, lower waged jobs were offered on the U.S. side as well as lowered government spending. Non-citizens from Mexico were specifically targeted on the U.S. side (7).
• Women were primarily left out of the decisions made concerning politics and economy. As a result of the oppression they suffered they empowered their “feminist scholarship” and began actively engaging in their own social justice (9). How did the women begin activism?

2. The Unsettling, Gendered Consequences of Migration for Mexican Indigenous Women
• Thesis of chapter: “changing lives of indigenous immigrant women.” (19)
• Why did families in Mexico migrate? “…residential relocation, more diverse economic opportunities for women, educational benefits for young girls, generational shifts in values and practices, and the criminalizing of some culturally accepted partriarchal practices.” (19)
• Migrating to another land or country had a huge impact on a woman’s sense of identity and their way of life (19).
• Quote on page 21 gives a sense of agony in being torn from one’s roots.
• Parallel between place and a person’s identity both are a form of (21) geography. Place is a physical geography and a person often links their identity to the geography of the place they were born in.
• The migration of indigenous people from Mexico due to the economy changed gender roles by establishing a “rural-rural migratory pattern” for boys and a “rural-urban” pattern for girls (22). Linked to idea that men should accomplish the hard labor while women do the domestic tasks involved with the household.
• As a result of the gender division women were left to do double the work. Including house hold labors and working in the fields to bring in extra money. page 24 quote