Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Strategic Uses Of Gender In Household Negotiations: Women Workers On Mexico’S Northern Border, Leslie C. Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

The study illustrates the potential of the ‘doing gender’ perspective to explain why employment helps women win some negotiations at home but not others. Eighteen in-depth interviews with women maquiladora workers in Mexico suggest that employment may help women gain new rights and extend the limits of respect accorded them by male companions and parents. Women were more successful when they used negotiating strategies that conformed to their gender identity, such as making offers, than when they used negotiating strategies that challenged traditional gender norms, such as withdrawing services or making threats.