'from Melissa Wright (1999), 'The dialectics of still life: Murder, women, and maquiladoras.' In Public Culture 11(3):453-74 (Dr. Wright is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Women's studies here at Penn State):

'Over the last five years almost two hundred women have been found murdered and dumped along the desert fringes of the Mexican industrial city of Ciudad Juarez. On 21 March 1999, another young woman was found half-buried in the desert and bearing signs of rape and torture. Most of these women range in age from their teens to their thirties, and many worked in the export-processing maquila factories that have been operating in Mexico for three decades. As international and national attention occasionally turns to these brutal murders, a number of stories have emerged to explain the troubling phenomenon.'

Some context

As we've discussed previously, people who migrate to cities in search of work don't exactly have perfect information about the opportunities available. In the case of women, the maquilas are one of the reasons for coming. Low-skill, low wage work is better than none. But as is usually the case, more people come than the factories can absorb. Many women must look elsewhere for work, even if they want to eventually end up in the maquilas, they must find a way to make ends meet in the meantime. We've talked elsewhere about the informal sector. The sex industry also thrives in Juarez, along with the illicit drug trade, and create sort of a vacuum pump for tourism influx. In some cases, women are in both economies, or even all three (maquilas, sex, drugs).

At the same time, in 2000 there were some 340 maquilas in Juarez, employing over 200,000 workers, roughly 2/3 of whom are women. This has had a huge impact on the city's economy, which was growing at a rate of over 7% / year. It has also had an impact on economics, and the influence of multinational corporations on municipal, regional and national politics (see LaBoltz' article. One can imagine the stresses on the city by such a large influx of immigrants. Normally more people might mean more revenue, more taxes, more improvements. But we know how the informal sector works.

There are other forces at work along the border. In particular, there is an effort among civic leaders and politicians to transform the traditional economy of Juarez, and the maquiladora sector from low-skilled to high-skilled high-technology production (both high tech factories, and factories that produce goods for the high-tech industries). According to a 1997 Business Week article:

Tijuana is the TV manufacturing capital of the world. Plants of Sony, Samsung, Matsushita, and others in the area are turning out 14 million units per year, supported by San Diego-based management, engineering, marketing, and other services. Ciudad Juarez boasts 235 factories with a total of 178,000 employees, the biggest concentration of maquiladora workers on the border. General Motors, with 17 auto parts plants, is expanding its Delphi division's R&D center, which serves customers around the world. Laredo and Nuevo Laredo thrive on warehousing, services such as Wal-Mart's huge distribution center, and customs brokering for daily two-way traffic of 4,000 loaded trucks across the Rio Grande. The main rail line from Mexico City to the U.S. also transits the border here.

Professor Wright stresses the importance of labor turnover to the maquila firms, and gender has become the primary way of distinguishing 'loyal' and 'trainable' workers from the rest (those whose job it is to identify the 'trainable' workers are overwhelmingly male). One manager said 'we have about 70% females here. That means high turnover. Sometimes 20% a month. Now the guys also sometimes leave but if they get into a technical position . . . they usually stay longer' (Wright1999:464). Women are generally in the dead end, unskilled jobs with little opportunity for advancement, and disproportionately working second or third shifts, more susceptible to repetitive motion injuries (e.g., such as carpal tunnel syndrome), and subject to pregnancy tests and harassment should they become pregnant, all of which contribute to higher turnover rates (health benefits are negligible if any). In a sense, many of the thousands of women workers are seen as disposable-they may perceive other opportunities in other sectors of the economy, risky or no, legal or no, as more attractive.

So while the economic transformation of Juarez is occurring, and the city is trying to sell its labor force as skilled to attract a different kind of investment, women are seen by some as poor labor partners in this transformation, and as liabilities. While prostitution is legal in downtown Juarez, there have been efforts to 'clean up' the district. Some of the prostitution activity has migrated to other parts of the city, serving an 'upscale' clientele, but many women perceive this form as more risky (though more lucrative), and prefer the independence of setting their own hours, choosing their own locations, etc.

A couple of key questions: who is responsible for the murders, and why have they continued essentially unabated? The questions are related, but not identical . . . There are no 'right' answers on this, but as we bring in more information, local, regional, national and international pressures, finding neat solutions to the problems seems less possible or realistic.