Admitting, “No society treats its women as well as its men” (Cuetera, P.143) is the first step to understanding the gender issues and disparities between the sexes in a patriarchal society such as Mexico. Recent studies showed that only 29 percent of women in comparison to 87 percent of men are currently employed (Katz, P. 204). The level at which women experience sexism varies based on the size of the organization and the work unit within the company. In Mexico, women’s earning potential is negatively affected when combining work and school in relation to men. This can be attributed to occupational differences found at an

Over the past year, more than 350 manufacturing plants called Maquiladoras have been shuttered, many of them bound for Asia. Maquiladoras are labor-intensive factories that are allowed to import components duty-free for assembly in Mexico and re-export to the United States or elsewhere. At least 240,000 maquiladora jobs have been lost over the past year, or about a fifth of the total workforce in a vital sector of the Mexican economy (Hall, P. 1E). Mexicans are trying to overcome the maquiladora boom of the past decades, and are looking to attract high-tech factories that give opportunities such as employment training, higher salaries, and a more satisfying work environment (Thompson, P. A3). An organization that has used its church affiliation in order to increase awareness in large U.S. corporations doing business in Mexico is The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras Organization (Aguayo, P.64). Their agenda has focused on improving wages and the work conditions of U.S. corporation employees in Mexico.

In recent studies, women are demonstrating success in the workplace and are gaining respect. Women are evolving into a more neutral role and are becoming more equivalent to men (Engholm, P.198). The fact that few women are in executive positions can be explained by factors inherent in policies adopted within the companies themselves that are a function of gender differentiation: the various patterns for evaluating and compensating the work of men and women, the lack of flexibility in the work schedule, pyramid structures, and the existing expectations for commitment to the company that sometimes require that another type of personal and family activity be given secondary priority, and even put aside. Female executives are required to make choices that men never have to consider. The most difficult one is the decision between work and family. Especially in Mexico where family is the most important aspect of life. Changes are taking place socially in Mexico that allow for improvement in the labor force, but it

Some topics in this essay:
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