Working Women into the Borderlands

Chapter Five. Women’s Labor and Activism in the Greater Mexican Borderlands, 1910–1930

Chapter Five Women’s Labor and Activism in the Greater Mexican Borderlands, 1910–1930 When noble and loyal friends of the revolution appeared at my door with the mutilated and bloody bodies of our soldiers, my heart jumped, and since that moment, my life was transformed. Jovita Idar, Laredo, Texas, ca. 1910 Acordamos organizarnos en unión de obreras biendo [sic] los años de esclavitud que hasta esta han pasado sobre la clase oprimida. [We organize as a union of workers acknowledging years of slavery to which the working class has been subjected.] “Estatutos de la Unión de Obreras ‘Fraternidad Femenil,’” Xicotencatl, Tamaulipas, 1925 In the tumultuous environment of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Mexico, women heard the rhetoric of revolution and adopted it in order to improve working conditions—on both sides of the border. Because of extensive ties between northeastern Mexico and South Texas, the experiences of women residents and transients at this crossroads are better understood within a transnational framework. Women migrated back and forth, maintained ties with family “back home,” and shared a common labor experience.1 More real on a map than in people’s everyday lives, the border did not stop the flow of ideas and certainly did not stop cultural exchange. The porous nature of the border in the decades before the 1930s, when the US government began a massive campaign of deportation targeting Mexicans, meant there was a revolving door for laborers from both nation-states. Laborers, mutual-aid societies, and labor organizations —comprising both male and female workers—maintained close ties with one another and, whenever possible, supported each other’s agendas. They did so because, to a great extent, they were fighting for the same kinds of things: livable wages, the right to organize and strike, safe working environments, and 108 • Chapter Five the right to a dignified way of life. Women also fought for these guarantees, yet they advanced a specific female worker or obrera agenda focusing on women’s rights in general.2 One of the central debates in the historiography of Mexican women is whether or not the Mexican Revolution was in fact “revolutionary” for women. Scholars have focused in particular on whether or not the Revolution shaped labor and gender relations and, if so, how it worked to alter traditional patterns. While feminist historians and historians of women’s history tend to agree that the Revolution created opportunities for women to fight alongside males and to express their views concerning women’s rights in journals, magazines, and newspapers, opinions on whether or not the Revolution altered gender relations vary.3 Given the transnational influence of the Revolution, we can pose the same question about Mexican American women or Mexican immigrant women residing on the northern bank of the Río Grande. What exactly did the Revolution mean for working women in this extended borderlands region? What kinds of work did working-class women perform and what was the legacy of the Revolution in the greater Mexican borderlands? The Revolution provided a unique opportunity for women to voice demands, which were often articulated within a revolutionary framework. However, the Revolution did not alter gender relations significantly; gender inequities continued in the workplace and beyond. Women’s Labor during the Revolution Some women left their mark on the Revolution by contributing to newspapers and journals, teaching, taking up arms, or assisting in the acquisition of weapons in their cross-border activities, while others helped to build the borderlands by working in factories, agriculture, and a variety of other occupations. As women fled across the border to get away from the war in Mexico, they found themselves selling their labor and working in predominantly low-paying jobs, much like their tejana counterparts. Working-class Mexican women’s labor in the region was concentrated in specific “light” industries or on commercial agricultural estates. Their tasks were frequently paid by the piece and were thus low-paid jobs meant for the unskilled. As was the case in the Tamaulipas and Nuevo León countryside, the greater South Texas border region, including the rural Rio Grande Valley towns of Robstown and Alice, as well as the farms in the more central part of the state, was where thousands of mexicanas worked. While a small segment of the female population found jobs laboring in commercial laundries, making cigars, or working in factories, the majority of women Women’s...