I was blessed with a whole lot of luck on my 10th day! I was able to line up 6 maquila worker interviews today. I interviewed 5 male workers and 1 female worker. I had been struggling to find male workers in the area. Most of the literature that I have reviewed on maquilas play close attention to women in the factory since they do make up the majority of workers. Therefore the point of my journey to El Salvador was to interview mostly male workers to see how they felt about gender/labor issues. I was becoming frustrating because I was not able to find men in the maquila, but as luck would have it (and with the help of my trusty assistant) I was able to find men to interview. Like the female workers I have interview, they also complained about the low wages they received. As I mentioned before, maquila workers in El Salvador make about $75-90 biweekly. What I have found out is that male workers are less likely to talk about gender issues in the maquilas. Female workers will discuss sexual harassment and fighting between women/men, but men are less likely to share that type of information. In my interviews I ask questions about their work in the maquila, but I also ask about their views of fatherhood and what it means to be a man in order to understand Salvadoran working class masculinity. Many of the men that go work at the maquilas are tailors. They go into the maquilas for an opportunity to work in their trade. But many leave because of the treatment and the low wages. One man noted that the treatment was so bad, that men cried. He giggled, along with his brother-in-law, when he made the statement, but it goes to show that men are expected to behave a certain way. According to my observations, working class Salvadoran men are providers and protectors of their family. A bad father and man is not responsible and thinks only about himself and fulfilling his desires/wants and in addition participates in heavy drinking. Heavy drinking appears to be one of the qualities that separates bad fathers/men from good fathers/men. This is just some of the information I remember from the top of my head, but I have a notebook of notes and hours of recorded interviews to go through. I am very excited to start reviewing them and begin to write my thesis.
Today in one El Salvador's newspapers,
El Diario de Hoy, there was an article on El Salvador's exports to Europe. El Salvador exports about 7.3% of its products to Europe, but the U.S. continues to be the country where most Salvadoran goods go to, specifically textiles. Here is a picture the Fruit of the Loom maquila, which was shown in today's paper.
Remember, next time you go to The Gap, purchase Fruit of the Loom, Haines, Champion, and/or Puma, check the label--it might just say "Made in El Salvador."
Interesting stuff! You mention that the women talk openly about sexual harrasment, I'm picturing they are being harassed by men who are there superiors. Is this on the right track or not? Also, are managers ar the factories all typically men,?
ReplyDeleteTheir immediate supervisors tend to be mostly women, but those above these first line supervisors are mostly men and those are the individuals who harass them. Some also noted the Korean maquila owners are the ones harassing them.
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