Gendered Histories: Garment Production and Migration in Mexico

Abstract

The author's impetus to write this paper stems from reflections on the history of clothing production in a mosaic of localities in western-central Mexico. In the 1990s, in addition to generating the largest flows of, mostly male, transnational migrants, these areas have become the most important garment producers in Mexico. Exploring the interconnectedness of industrial change, gendered patterns of migration, and gendered relations of production, the author provides a short history of garment production, followed by a discussion of distinct production trajectories (by women in rural putting-out systems and/or urban microenterprises; and by men, sometimes in partnership with their wives, in workshops and factories). Both drew primarily on female labour, embedded in varied social relations; however, over time women's entrepreneurial capacity has lost ground. Fieldwork from Aguascalientes in the 1990s is used to analyse the way different parts of the garment industry have responded to economic recession and trade liberalisation, revealing three different survival strategies. Whereas maquila factories (which act as subcontractors to US and European firms) and large urban workshops have struggled, small-scale enterprises at a distance from large towns have thrived.