ABSTRACT
In San Pedro, the use of daughters as female workers has been one important way for women to combine their roles as housekeepers and domestic or extra-domestic businesswomen. The organization of female labor into a potent working force is best expressed in what I have called the "female family business"; trades, shops, services and cottage industries that are owned and run by related women for the family's financial betterment. Women stopping to analyze the dollars and cents of their enterprises never speak of money earned by the hour or day, nor do they include the value of their time in figuring out how much to charge. Female family business is seen by Sampedranas as "women's work," just another non-paying responsibility which, like domestic housekeeping, falls to women as part of family care taking. The chapter presents a case study focuses on the Miranda female family business.
