ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the consequences for Ciudad Juarez households of having members who work in the maquiladoras. As important as the reasons for recruiting female labor and the purposes served by recruitment are the effects of industrial employment on women, on their consciousness, and on household power relations. Existing literature on women in multinational firms tends to focus on women as individuals, with few or no comparisons between men and women employees or between households with and without such workers. Household survey data, such as that collected and analyzed herein, provide information on incomes, material possessions, and both access to and satisfaction with urban amenities. Maquila households are worse off in that lower percentages have a telephone, perhaps reflecting the temporary, youthful composition of those households. Food is the most basic need in households, and for urban families, food acquisition is totally commercialized. Maquila households are distinctive in terms of the number, ages and sex of members.
