Miracle workers: Gender and state mediation among textile and garment workers in Mexico's transition to industrial development

International Labor and Working-Class History

Volumn , Issue 63, 2003, Pages 45-62

  Olcott, Jocelyn ^a  

^a DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0037704504     PISSN: 01475479     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0147547903000085     Document Type: Review

References (81)

1. Departamento del Trabajo, Informe sobre las labores de la Comisión Investigadora de la Mujer y los Menores Trabajadores (Mexico, 1936). (Hereafter, Informe, 1936. All translations are my own.
2. Departamento del Trabajo, Informe sobre las labores de la Comisión Investigadora de la Mujer y los Menores Trabajadores (Mexico, 1936). (Hereafter, Informe, 1936. All translations are my own.
3. Nearly twenty-seven percent of garment workers had a sixth-grade education. The 1930 population census pegged literacy of women over ten years old at seventy percent, considerably lower than the ninety-three percent literacy rate found among garment workers. See Dirección General de Estadística, Quinta censo general de población de 1930 (Mexico, 1934), 225.
4. Lázaro Cárdenas, Ideario político, ed. Leonel Durán (Mexico, 1972), 189-191.
5. Lázaro Cárdenas, Palabras y documentos, Vol. 1 (Mexico, 1978), 202.
6. El Nacional, 12 November 1929, 8.
7. El Nacional, 6 May 1931, 8.
8. El Nacional, 15 October 1932, 8. In 1938, the PNR restructured to become the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM), which in turn became the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) that governed Mexico until 2000.
9. Dawn Keremitsis, "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas, 15, 4 (April 1984).
10. See El Universal, 1, 2, 6, and 10 August 1934, 22 October 1935; La Prensa, 2, 6, 14, and 22 August 1934, 16, 17, 24 October 1935; Excélsior, 2 August 1934, 28 September 1935, 17 and 23 October 1935; El Nacional, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 22 August 1934, 4 October 1935; El Día, 16 October 1935.
11. See El Universal, 1, 2, 6, and 10 August 1934, 22 October 1935; La Prensa, 2, 6, 14, and 22 August 1934, 16, 17, 24 October 1935; Excélsior, 2 August 1934, 28 September 1935, 17 and 23 October 1935; El Nacional, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 22 August 1934, 4 October 1935; El Día, 16 October 1935.
12. See El Universal, 1, 2, 6, and 10 August 1934, 22 October 1935; La Prensa, 2, 6, 14, and 22 August 1934, 16, 17, 24 October 1935; Excélsior, 2 August 1934, 28 September 1935, 17 and 23 October 1935; El Nacional, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 22 August 1934, 4 October 1935; El Día, 16 October 1935.
13. See El Universal, 1, 2, 6, and 10 August 1934, 22 October 1935; La Prensa, 2, 6, 14, and 22 August 1934, 16, 17, 24 October 1935; Excélsior, 2 August 1934, 28 September 1935, 17 and 23 October 1935; El Nacional, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 22 August 1934, 4 October 1935; El Día, 16 October 1935.
14. See El Universal, 1, 2, 6, and 10 August 1934, 22 October 1935; La Prensa, 2, 6, 14, and 22 August 1934, 16, 17, 24 October 1935; Excélsior, 2 August 1934, 28 September 1935, 17 and 23 October 1935; El Nacional, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 22 August 1934, 4 October 1935; El Día, 16 October 1935.
15. Comité Estatal del Partido Femenista Revolucionario (PNR) to Cárdenas, 27 December 1934, AGN, RP, LCR, exp. 437.1/29.
16. Anne Rubenstein also discussed this phenomenon in Bad Language, Naked Ladies, and Other Threats to the Nation: A Political History of Comic Books in Mexico (Durham, 1998).
17. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
18. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
19. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
20. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
21. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
22. For PCM's the growing interest in attracting women to its ranks, see El Machete during this period; Departamento Femenil del Partido Comunista, "¡A las Obreras, Campesinas y Mujeres Indigenas en General!" 1 October 1931, and Laura Durán, "A las soldaderas, A las técnicas, A las mujeres de los policías!" both found in Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, Box 16, Folder 7, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. For accounts women's activism, see Anna Macías, Against All Odds: The Feminist Movement in Mexico to 1940 (Westport, CT, 1982); Shirlene Ann Soto, Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in the Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940 (Denver, 1990); and Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954," in Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. Victoria E. Rodríguez (Boulder, 1998), 87-102.
23. Jocelyn Olcott, "Las Hijas de La Malinche: Women's Organizing and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1934-1940" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 2000) and Esperanza Tuñón Pablos, Mujeres que se organizan: El Frente Unico Pro Derechos de la Mujer, 1935-1938 (Mexico, 1992).
24. Jocelyn Olcott, "Las Hijas de La Malinche: Women's Organizing and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1934-1940" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 2000) and Esperanza Tuñón Pablos, Mujeres que se organizan: El Frente Unico Pro Derechos de la Mujer, 1935-1938 (Mexico, 1992).
25. El Nacional, 5 August 1933, 8.
26. Secretaría de Prensa y Propaganda del Partido Nacional Revolucionaria, La gira del General Lázaro Cárdenas: sintesis ideológica (Mexico, 1934), 136-137.
27. From 1936 report of the Escuela de Costura y Confección, Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de Educación Pública (AHSEP), Serie Instituto de Orientación Socialista, caja 3961/3100/12, exp. 5.
28. Jeffrey Bortz, "The Genesis of the Mexican Labor Relations System: Federal Labor Policy and the Textile Industry, 1925-1940," The Americas 52 (1995): 43-69.
29. Stephen Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890-1940 (Stanford, 1989). In 1930, the textile and garment industries ranked second and fourth, respectively, in personnel employed. See Dirección General de Estadística, Primer censo industrial de 1930 (Mexico, 1934), 32. By 1940, the cotton textile industry ranked second after mining in personnel employed and total salaries paid and second after metalworking plants in the values of primary materials consumed and of production. In these categories, various sectors of the garment-making industry ranked between twenty-sixth and thirtieth, while others ranked far lower. See Dirección General de Estadística, Tercer censo industrial de 1940 (Mexico, 1944), 41-51.
30. Stephen Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890-1940 (Stanford, 1989). In 1930, the textile and garment industries ranked second and fourth, respectively, in personnel employed. See Dirección General de Estadística, Primer censo industrial de 1930 (Mexico, 1934), 32. By 1940, the cotton textile industry ranked second after mining in personnel employed and total salaries paid and second after metalworking plants in the values of primary materials consumed and of production. In these categories, various sectors of the garment-making industry ranked between twenty-sixth and thirtieth, while others ranked far lower. See Dirección General de Estadística, Tercer censo industrial de 1940 (Mexico, 1944), 41-51.
31. Stephen Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890-1940 (Stanford, 1989). In 1930, the textile and garment industries ranked second and fourth, respectively, in personnel employed. See Dirección General de Estadística, Primer censo industrial de 1930 (Mexico, 1934), 32. By 1940, the cotton textile industry ranked second after mining in personnel employed and total salaries paid and second after metalworking plants in the values of primary materials consumed and of production. In these categories, various sectors of the garment-making industry ranked between twenty-sixth and thirtieth, while others ranked far lower. See Dirección General de Estadística, Tercer censo industrial de 1940 (Mexico, 1944), 41-51.
32. Jesús Díaz Barriga, "Proyecto de plan de industrialización del país y financiamiento," 24 October 1938, Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), Ramo Presidentes (RP), Grupo Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (LCR), file 545.3/295.
33. Eduardo Villaseñor, Nuestra industria textil del algodón (Mexico, 1934), 15.
34. Clarence Senior, Democracy Comes to a Cotton Kingdom: The Story of Mexico's La Laguna (Mexico, 1940); Joe C. Ashby, Organized Labor and the Mexican Revolution under Lázaro Cárdenas (Chapel Hill, 1963); Barry Carr, Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico (Lincoln, 1992).
35. Clarence Senior, Democracy Comes to a Cotton Kingdom: The Story of Mexico's La Laguna (Mexico, 1940); Joe C. Ashby, Organized Labor and the Mexican Revolution under Lázaro Cárdenas (Chapel Hill, 1963); Barry Carr, Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico (Lincoln, 1992).
36. Clarence Senior, Democracy Comes to a Cotton Kingdom: The Story of Mexico's La Laguna (Mexico, 1940); Joe C. Ashby, Organized Labor and the Mexican Revolution under Lázaro Cárdenas (Chapel Hill, 1963); Barry Carr, Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico (Lincoln, 1992).
37. Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment, 150 ff. For the disparity foreign investment in these sectors, see "Foreign Investments in Mexico," Mexican Commerce and Industry, December 1931, 6-7.
38. Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment, 150 ff. For the disparity foreign investment in these sectors, see "Foreign Investments in Mexico," Mexican Commerce and Industry, December 1931, 6-7.
39. Nacional Financiera, S.A., Statistics on the Mexican Economy (Mexico, 1974), 273-274.
40. The 1930 Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised import duties on nearly sixty percent of all Mexican goods entering the United States. See Hamilton, Limits of State Autonomy, 115 and Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment, 153. Mexico responded in 1931 with a nationalist economic campaign. Like many consumption-oriented programs, the public rhetoric surrounding the nationalist campaign targeted women, who were seen as the primary consumers. Industrialists continued to import big-ticket items, such as heavy machinery, that had the greatest economic impact.
41. The 1930 Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised import duties on nearly sixty percent of all Mexican goods entering the United States. See Hamilton, Limits of State Autonomy, 115 and Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment, 153. Mexico responded in 1931 with a nationalist economic campaign. Like many consumption-oriented programs, the public rhetoric surrounding the nationalist campaign targeted women, who were seen as the primary consumers. Industrialists continued to import big-ticket items, such as heavy machinery, that had the greatest economic impact.
42. Early industrial censuses surveyed firms rather than people, excluding employers that stayed below the radar of census-takers. Women, who form a larger percentage of the informal economy, are likely underrepresented by this data.
43. Cited in Sanford A. Mosk, Industrial Revolution in Mexico (Berkeley, 1950), 126.
44. Donald B. Keesing, "Structural Change Early in Development: Mexico's Changing Industrial and Occupational Structure from 1895 to 1950," Journal of Economic History 29 (1969): 716-738.
45. See Bortz, "Genesis"; Jesús Rivero Quijano, "La industria textil de algodón y el maquinismo," n.d. [1931].
46. See Bortz, "Genesis"; Jesús Rivero Quijano, "La industria textil de algodón y el maquinismo," n.d. [1931].
47. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
48. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
49. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
50. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
51. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
52. Women's role in textile production has received scant scholarly attention for the colonial and early national periods and even less for the postrevolutionary period. See, for example, Dawn Keremitsis, La industria textil mexicana en el siglo XIX (Mexico, 1973) as well as her article "Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry," The Americas 40 (1984): 491-504. The garment industry has attracted more notice, particularly since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake sparked international concern about the women's working conditions in the city's garment district. Many studies of women in the textile and garment sectors are regional or factory studies. See, for example, Fiona Wilson, De la casa al taller (Morelia, 1990) and Estela Leñero, El huso y el sexo: la mujer obrera en dos industrias de tlaxcala (Mexico, 1984); María Teresa Fernández Aceves, "Class, Gender and Power in Guadalajara: Political Mobilization of Schoolteachers, Textile Workers, and Tortilla Makers, 1920-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2000). On women textile workers during the Porfiriato, see Verena Radkau, "La Fama" y la vida: una fábrica y sus obreras (Mexico, 1984).
53. Cited in Keremitsis, "Latin American Women Workers," 494.
54. Cited in Ana María Hernández, La mujer mexicana en la industria textil (Mexico, 1940), 118-119; Primer censo industrial de 1930, 13-24.
55. Cited in Ana María Hernández, La mujer mexicana en la industria textil (Mexico, 1940), 118-119; Primer censo industrial de 1930, 13-24.
56. Tercer censo industrial de 1940, 56.
57. "Contrato colectivo de trabajo, obligatorio en la industria textil del algodón y sus mixturas," Revista del Trabajo, August 1939. Although the words hijos and padres can be used in a gender-neutral sense to mean children and parents, in practice, the best textile jobs were passed from father to son.
58. For a discussion about the relationship among gender, labor, and skill definitions, see Ava Baron, ed., Work Engendered: Toward a New History of American Labor (Ithaca, 1991).
59. See Bortz, "The Genesis of the Mexican Labor Relations System."
60. Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment, 171-189.
61. Women's outwork attracted attention not only from labor inspectors but also in the mainstream media. By the 1940s, several university students wrote theses exploring its dangers. See Carlos Cuota Alva, "Trabajo a domicilio" (Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1944); and Carlos Yaspik Guerra, "De trabajo a domicilio" (Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1944).
62. Women's outwork attracted attention not only from labor inspectors but also in the mainstream media. By the 1940s, several university students wrote theses exploring its dangers. See Carlos Cuota Alva, "Trabajo a domicilio" (Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1944); and Carlos Yaspik Guerra, "De trabajo a domicilio" (Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1944).
63. Inspectors most likely would have found similar abuses of male workers but viewed them as more egregious when committed against women.
64. Roderic Ai Camp, Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-1993 (Austin, 1995), 526.
65. Informe, 1936, 28.
66. Informe, 1936, 15.
67. Informe, 1936, 30.
68. A leading feminist and fellow-traveler of the PCM, Ana María Hernández was a high-profile activist throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 1940, she drew her work on as a labor inspector to write the muckraking book, La mujer mexicana en la industria textil.
69. Informe, 1936, 48.
70. Informe, 1936, 65.
71. Informe, 1936, Appendix 12. Daily outwork production rates reflected daily averages using a pedal-powered sewing machine; handwork produced fewer items per day. Workshop production averages reflected using electric machines. Wages are in 1936 Mexican centavos.
72. See also Bortz, "Genesis." Certainly after a quarter century of violence and political uncertainty, this description would have resonated with the common experience of many producers.
73. Departamento Autónome del Trabajo, Informe de las labores realizadas por la Comisión Investigadora de la Situación de la Mujer y de los Menores Trabajadores (Mexico, 1938). Hereafter, Informe, 1938.
74. Departamento Autónome del Trabajo, Informe de las labores realizadas por la Comisión Investigadora de la Situación de la Mujer y de los Menores Trabajadores (Mexico, 1938). Hereafter, Informe, 1938.
75. Informe, 1938, 6-7.
76. Informe, 1938, 8.
77. Vázquez was replaced by Antonio Villalobos, a ruling-party loyal who would become the president of the party's executive committee during the administration of Cárdenas' more conservative successor Manuel Avila Camacho. Camp, Mexican Political Biographies, 735.
78. Women achieved the right to vote in federal elections in 1953. The 1937 amendment languished in Congress, which refused to publish the results of its vote on the matter, thus negating the apparent victory.
79. Colección Union Femenina Católica Mexicana, Archivo Histórico, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico, D.F., IV Asamblea General de la Unión Femenina Católica Mexicana, 4 October 1938, UFCM, box 4, folder 26.
80. See Nora Hamilton, The Limits of State Autonomy and Alan Knight, "Cardenismo: Juggernaut or Jalopy?" Journal of Latin American Studies 26 (February 1994): 73-107.
81. See Nora Hamilton, The Limits of State Autonomy and Alan Knight, "Cardenismo: Juggernaut or Jalopy?" Journal of Latin American Studies 26 (February 1994): 73-107.