ABSTRACT
Although some Mexican women in El Paso and throughout the urban Southwest contributed to household incomes by taking in wash or lodgers, no disintegration took place in the traditional pattern of men being the chief wage-earners and women doing household work. While housework formed the most important work activity for Mexican women, some in El Paso also found jobs outside the home. In 1917 the El Paso Laundry, the largest in the city, employed 134 Spanish-surnamed workers out of a total of 166 employees, and Mexican women, mostly doing collar and flatwork, composed what appears to have been over half of the Mexican employees. Specific attention to the wages of Mexican women in El Paso occurred as the result of hearings held in the border city in November 1919 by the Texas Industrial Welfare Commission. Mexican women employed in the El Paso Overall Company also testified before the commission about their need for higher wages.
