Maquiladoras caused Femicides

Throughout the 1960s and 1990s, hundreds of American and Japanese factories, called maquiladoras, sprouted up on the border of El Paso and Juarez to take advantage of low wages and tax incentives offered by the NAFTA agreement in 1993. This globalized usage of maquiladoras has caused the deregulation of more common jobs (Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 2014). People flocked all over Latin America to seek employment. Shantytowns sprang up overnight in the deserts. Men were turned away from employment in favor of women because they were less likely to unionize, and more willing to work for longer hours for less pay. “The young women of Juárez are also favored by the maquila bosses for their nimble fingers and obedience” (Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 2014).

Around the same time, young women began to disappear, and many victims were maquiladora employees. The first official feminicidio or femicide was Alma Chavira Farel. She was 13. She was raped, sodomized, beaten, and strangled. Over the decade’s hundreds of women have turned up murdered in a similar fashion. Their bodies were often dumped in Lote Bravo- a deserted area near the Juarez airport (Martinez, 2021). Not only do these murders continue to happen, but most remain unsolved. After a decade of similar occurrences, large factories began to provide buses to transport their employees to and from their factory, but it has not very effective. There has been a major disconnect between these femicides and Mexican’s perception of women. Many investigations are not fulfilled and carried out despite numerous calls by international human rights groups. The Mexican government and maquiladoras must work together to provide safe options for their employees, find and prosecute murderers, and work to change the cultural image of women in Mexico. There needs to be an improvement in the treatment of women and a motion to provide more equitable enforcement in aims to empower women (Council on Hemispheric Affairs).

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Maquiladora”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Sep. 2013, https://www.britannica.com/technology/maquiladora. Accessed 23 April 2021.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). (2014, April 8). Femicides of Juárez: Violence Against Women in Mexico. COHA. https://www.coha.org/femicides-of-juarez-violence-against-women-in-mexico/.

Martínez Prado, H. (2021, January 23). Feminicidios, 28 años sin verdad ni justicia. El Diario. https://diario.mx/juarez/feminicidios-28-anos-sin-verdad-ni-justicia-20210123-1754858.html.