ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the role of female wage earners in the migratory patterns of male household members. It draws on newspapers, archives, interviews with female workers and administrative personnel in the companies examined and ten case studies of women who work in production. The chapter provides a brief description of the context of industrialization in Guadalajara. It reviews labor market alternatives with special emphasis on the jobs that women have filled. The chapter also provides a brief history of the electronics industry in the country, stressing the importance of female labor in the rationale of the companies. It discusses the evolution of export assembly plants in the interior of the country, as well as the growing incorporation of women into the work force. Guadalajara is one of the centers where many of western Mexico’s industrial, commercial and service activities have concentrated.
