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The dual reality of the maquiladora workers in Mexico is not widely known. Most Americans do not know what type of working conditions exist in these “foreign” factories, nor do they know what type of people work there or why. Many Mexicans, except for those living along the border, have only a vague idea of how “good” these maquila jobs are or how the workers are treated by the American companies. Government officials in Mexico and the United States have pored over the actual NAFTA document in an attempt to identify all the potential benefits that can be realized for their countries. Policy makers and economists have provided projections based on theoretical analyses of the gains from free trade that NAFTA created. Multinationals have eagerly moved their production facilities to Mexico, hoping to boost profits by lowering costs. Families have voluntarily left their rural homes to work in the maquilas, hoping to increase their standard of living and provide a better future for their children. It has been more than fifteen years since NAFTA became law, promoting free trade between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is time now to weigh the costs and bene fits and evaluate the long-term effects of this free trade agreement. It is time to collect and examine the evidence to decide what happened since NAFTA, who benefited, and at what cost. The best way to answer these questions and learn the truth about the maquiladora industry is to talk to the people who are the closest to it—those living it. Interviewing Women in their Homes In order to address the questions of the impact of the maquilas on the women, their families, and the economy, the perspectives of the women CHAPTER 3 House to House: The Method of Analysis House to House: The Method of Analysis 55 who work in the maquiladoras were examined. A survey was constructed containing some basic questions (personal history information) and several specific questions that focused on the role of the individual in the maquila industry. A copy of the survey (translated into English) is presented in Appendix 2. Certain questions required short numerical answers , for example, a person’s age or education. Other questions were open-ended and called for elaboration, for example, what the workers did and did not like about their jobs. Ideally, the responses to these questions were expected to yield both quantitative and qualitative information that offers insight into the women’s experiences as maquila workers. The main objective of my research was to obtain information on the nature of work (hours, wages, and benefits) and working conditions from the women maquila workers. It was very difficult to enter most maquilas, and those that allowed access did not want outsiders speaking to the workers or taking pictures inside the plant. Female workers , moreover, would probably not be comfortable giving controversial or negative answers for fear of reprisal from their supervisors. Therefore , five Mexican women who were not currently working at the maquilas were hired to help conduct the surveys. Individually these women went a casa en casa (house to house) for a period of six weeks in March and April 2004. The advantages of this method are numerous. One of the greatest advantages is that it increased the sample size and improved the reliability of the responses. Since the five interviewers are Mexican women from the neighborhoods (colonias) in which they conducted the survey, they are more readily accepted into the workers’ homes and accorded trust. This greatly enhanced the number of women who could be reached during the six weeks. This method also increased the likelihood that women would cooperate and answer truthfully because they felt more comfortable talking with a fellow resident than with a stranger who was a gringa (white woman). Finally, the interviewers were more likely to collect all the information necessary for each survey because they were invited into the homes of the workers and could sit down and talk. The response rate was extremely good; of all the women who were asked to participate in the survey, less than 10 percent declined. This is an extraordinary reply rate and can be attributed to a number of factors: the importance of community and cooperation among the Mexican poor, the interviewers’ familiarity with the community , the interviewers’ tenacity, and the desire of the workers to tell their stories. The one constraint the five interviewers faced was that the only time...

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