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Gender, Labor, and Capitalism in U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1942–2000

Butler, Tracy A.

Abstract Details

2009, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, Latin American Studies (International Studies).
This thesis explores how throughout the twentieth century, the U.S. government worked closely with American businesses and the Mexican government to favor profitability over the social conditions of Mexican workers in the Bracero Program (1942-1964) and the Border Industrialization Program, or BIP (1964-2000). In both programs, Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) tailored each program to American employers’ ideals of the most cost-efficient, most productive, and least resistant workforce for each individual program by exploiting gender. While in the Bracero Program, U.S. farmers favored single, male laborers, in the BIP, U.S. employers preferred single, female workers. The author conducted a series of oral history interviews with former braceros and maquiladora workers in order to draw comparisons between their experiences under U.S. capitalism in the twentieth century. Under each program, male braceros and female maquiladora workers shared similar experiences with low wages, substandard living conditions, and other human rights violations.
Patrick Barr-Melej, PhD (Committee Chair)
Amado Lascar, PhD (Committee Member)
Cynthia Anderson, PhD (Committee Member)
137 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Butler, T. A. (2009). Gender, Labor, and Capitalism in U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1942–2000 [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1243907962

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Butler, Tracy. Gender, Labor, and Capitalism in U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1942–2000. 2009. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1243907962.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Butler, Tracy. "Gender, Labor, and Capitalism in U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1942–2000." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1243907962

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)