working girls, cancun style
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Anthropology of Work Review
Working Girls Cancun Style:
Reconfiguring Private and Public Domains in Practice
Alison C. Greene
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Introduction
eparting radically from patterns established in prior
generations, many yo ung, rura l, Yucatecan wo me n are
migrating to wo rk on the Mexican Caribbean. In the
to priv ate, familiar arenas. The progressive abandon-
have seriously destab ilized this
situation.
Drawing on the
n seven hours by bus to jobs in and around Ca ncun, in m y
e unique and comp licated. Most young wom en are postpon-
al fam ilies. The widespre ad reco gnition of this novel
respo nsibility to parents positions the female worke r as a
1
This good daughter posit io n in turn justif ies the tremen-
angements. The mere acts of going from ho me to w ork,
jobs ,
and tak ing care of the m undane tasks of self-
e in the urban zones requires the developm ent of
In response to this challenging situation, young wom en
constructing themselves as mo dern and urban through
and body language/as we ll as through va rying degrees
on in urban youth cultures.
2
Despite the new found freedom, I w il l argue that discourses
on of many youn g wo me n in
se doma ins. Using
three,
short ethnogra phic acco unts, I w i l l
Greene completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the
u
Huipiles and Spandex: Styling
and Refashioning Gender in the Global Econ omy of
investigates social transformations in the daily lives
international tourism on the Mexican Caribbean. The
study focuses on the emergence of multiple,
ons of female gender signaled by the
participation in migration labor. Her principle
work consumption,
culture, an d social formations of
gender
race, class,
subjectivity in contexts of globalization.
show that migrat ing young wo me n are cal led upon to defen
the actions and choices that compose their l ives as worker
This defense is required precisely because they so clear
deviate from the practices associated w ith the d ivis ion of soci
life into private and public spheres that effectively organize
life in previous generations in their hometown.
Working Models
I w i l l f rame my analysis in terms of wo rki ng m odels
Follow ing Gudema n and Rivera (1990), models are distil latio
of deeply historical and ongoing conversations involvin
multiple discourses that guide daily practice in particul
comm unit ies. As Gudeman and Rivera explain, Mo dels an
their lexicons emerge through the agreement, argument, an
reflections of humans engaged in practices and conversation
both verbal and textual (Ibid.: 14). The process of modeli
is furthermore open-ended and shif t ing (Ib id.). W ork in
models are continually developed through social interactio
and use. The wor king models I discuss are prov isiona l sets
discourses and practices pertaining to w ork . He nce , th
mod ifier, wo rki ng , has tw o senses.
W ork ing models are accessible to ethnographers becau
they focus and form local conversations on issues of impo
tance. Models are ident i f ied by and wo rke d out throug
repeated reference to shared metaphors. These metaph o
evoke,
for example, orderly structures or desirable outcome
To illustrate, Gudem an and Rivera found that the house
wid ely used as a metaphor for econom y in conversations
rural Colombia (Ibid.: 13). While such metaphors are wide
shared,
the process of building working models in practice
complex, contingent and highly specif ic.
Young men and women that I interviewed frequent
invoked the phrase, saliendo adelante (getting ahead), as
metaphor for the com mo nly held goal of econom ic success a
a comfortable l i fe. Com mitm ent to the vision of salien
adefante forms the foundation of working models that m
informants compose to organize their l ives as workers in an
around Can cun. Dogged and opportunistic participa tion
wage labor is wid ely understood as the only pos sible route
the achievement of this goal. Com mon features of work i
models indicated by the metaphor o f saliendo adelante inc lu
consumption of
a
wi de range of com mo dities. Participation
leisure activit ies w ith groups of m ale and female age m ates
also prominen t in most work ing models in pract ice.
4
A l thou
separate from actual labor at jobs, such leisure activities a
integral to the (re)production of wo rkin g mod els. In the c onte
of urban wage labor, consumption is a productive activi
Most pointedly, the presentation of a personal style recogn
able as modern, urban and Latin American is an essent
prerequisite for getting a job an d, therefore, a necessary pie
of working models focused on saliendo adelante.
5
m
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Despite these broadly shared foundations, the daily
ta i led wo rking out of wo rkin g models oriented to saliendo
produces remarkab ly diverse results from ho useho ld
g women from the same small tow n (Ibid.: 14).
6
W o m e n
Local divisions of public and private
lated in the agricultural gender division of labor constrain
me n's current wo rk practices. In order to understand how
Regional and Local History of the Division of the Spheres
M y fieldwo rk was based prim arily in the hom etown of the
7
This small tow n is located in the mid dle o f
Puuc zone of the state of
Yucatan.
s in th is to wn , and working m odels were
8
Local history of
in the subsistence agricultural d ivision of labor by gender
the heavily docum ented Iberian, patriarchal hon or
that spread across class and ethnic d ivisions du ring the
9
The association of wo m en wi th private or domestic spheres
inant mode of existence. Of course, many exceptions
me n went to wor k in the milpas (slash-and-burn corn plots ).
grandmothers reported that they had lived within the
as was the social expectation. The only sanctioned move-
solar (house yard) for married women of that
se explicitly connected with maintenance o f
Women left the solar on a da ily basis on a great variety o f
wel l , the corn
mi l l ,
and
to collect firewo od or ten d animals. Still, the household
ness justification was necessary. A ll other excursions at least
visits to relatives or attendance at mass.
The organization of work has changed radically with in the
ajority of younge r men in tow n have mov ed
f subsistence agriculture in to construction and many other
jobs.
Long
ago,
Deere and L£on de Leal noted that an
ortant effect of capitalist developm ent is that it contributes
eater f lexib il ity in the sexual division of labor in pro duc-
(1981:
359). This has certainly proven true in
this locale. M an y wo m en n ow work as teachers,
Nonetheless, the associations of men with the pub
sphere and wo me n wit h the domestic stil l inform daily pract
in this sm all place (and I suspect across Latin Amer ica). In fa
the general restriction of women and children to the home
wi de ly perceived as a necessary feature of propriety. Ma
conven tions of local speech indicate this vie w. The sim
query , W here are you going? is often met wi th the respon
Now here , o r No p lace.
10
W hen I visited households
init ial interviews , mothers typic ally interjected that,
chi ldren don 't go an yw he re / with out m y asking anything
the subjec t. Statements like this func tion as claims to respe
ab ility . In contrast, sim ple phrases such as la mujer que an
or, . . .que anda paseando (the woma n w ho goes out / wa
ders,
or, wh o goes around visit ing) carry distinct connotatio
of sexual imp ropriety . On e schoolteacher wo uld frequen
tease me when we met in the street, simply by inquirin
Paseando? ( Going visiting? ). These conve ntions po
cons iderable practical obstacles and potential social difficult
fo r work ing wom en in tow n.
To combat the threat to respectability posed by the
gendered organizing princip les, local working women f
quently claim that their wages contribute to their famili
chances of saliendo adelante. In this wa y, they justify th
participation in wage labor by extension of the tradit ion
allowances for trips outside the home judged necessary
household maintenance.
The persistent association of women with the domes
sphere in the small tow n, despite profound econom ic chan
and the on going transformation of the gender division of lab
is one t hin g. It is qu ite a nother t o suggest that these notio
migh t affect practice in urban zones. Young wom en w
migrate are expected to work outside of the domestic sphe
for mo st wak ing hou rs. Thus , at first glance, it seems high
unlik ely that the rural gendered division of private and pub
spheres would be translatable in any sense to urban tour
zones. Ho w c ould this system be relevant to the production
working models in urban contexts?
Economic Change, Migration, and Persisting
Relevance of Private and Public Spheres
Understandings of essential features of gender have n
changed automatically with economic changes. Associatio
of female gender with private spheres and male gender w
public spheres of practice are proving durable, despite t
incongruence of these associations with current econom
logics and goals. This is ex pla ine d, in part, because the pr
organiza tion of agricultural produ ction was locally based, lo
established, and thoroug hly enmeshed in all other features
l i fe. W orkin g wom en in pursuit of saliendo adelante constan
transgress still salient understandings of propr iety and m ora
regarding appropriate female practice established under t
agricultural gender division of labor. Hence, all young wom
who leave home to work are in the defensive posit ion
justifying their practices in terms of the prior gender syste
The working models of young women In the tourist zon
reflect these sensitivities and show that mo vin g to Cancun is
escape from these values.
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It must not be forgotten that this economic and social
began recently and is stil l underway. W ide -
11
W hile the great
jority of residents of this small to w n n ow accept wage labor
12
Parents (especially
Daughters, in particular, are often initia lly forbidd en
Most parents eve ntua lly relen t, but they suffer
The discourse of saliendo adelante provides not only the
neral founda tion o f wo rkin g m odels, but also
Saliendo adelante can be
ten is equated w ith devo tion to fa mily. This is extremely
the pain that migr ation causes parents. This
13
ult imately works as a justif ication for
needs, and the appropriateness of bo th
and sons' desires to he lp ou t.
Assuming financial responsibility for parents is both novel
particularly signif icant for wo m en . W hen subsistence
and moved in w ith their in-laws. Up on marrying,
their husbands' fam ilies.
14
The gradual extension of
tion opened social possibil it ies for wom en to
pate in wage labor. Sch oolin g entaile d exposure to
courses of gender equa lity (see Levinson 200 1). Increased
er marriage. Education beyon d prim ary sch ool also created
15
W hile both young men and wo m en just i fy migrat ing from
sali-
th is is obl igatory for young wom en. W hile
re com mo nly un derstood to seek emp loyme nt for
ety of addit ional reasons, inclu ding learning the ways of
e
wor ld ,
enjoying themselves, and prepa ring to support their
n future families, it w ou ld be unthinka ble for young w om en
of the portrayal of you ng work ing wom en as good
This portrayal is increas ingly acce pted, alongside
and lingering discomfort about the general independ-
required of wo m en wo rkers. The follo win g three stories
il l s how that the association of wom en w ith an ideal domestic
Three Ethnographic Stories
The first ethnographic story comes from a household in
of households in the hom etow n. The oldest brother from
family of t en c hi ldren establ ished th is hous ehold . By the e
1990s, wh en I was first received as a guest in the h ouse, D
Francisco had been working in a bank for over f ifteen ye
He was phenomenally successful from the point of view of
family, and he had supported them in signif icant ways
years. In Cancun he had bought a big lot, obtain ed a loan, a
built a large house. He rented out an apartme nt upstairs
l ived downstairs with his wife and sm all chi l dre n, a maid,
other relatives from rural areas w or ki ng in Canc un. Becaus
his success and unfailing suppo rt of the fam ily, he was trea
with great respect and affection by all family members a
functione d as the de facto head of the family.
In 1 99 1, one of his youn ger sisters, Ma risa, f inished
education as a secretary (which Francisco had funded), a
came to Cancun to wor k. W ith her brother's assistance, Mar
quickly found a secretaria l posit ion in an off ice dow nto w n.
paydays, Marisa turned her paycheck over to her brother, a
he decided how muc h of i t to g ive back to her and how mu
to send to their parents. From the outset, Marisa was u nder
care and authority of her brother and his w if e. Init ially ,
was perfect ly comfortable w ith th is arrangement.
Mar isa 's work ing mod el was fa i r ly uncom pl ica ted. H
main goal was to help support her parents and younge r siblin
and improv e their l ives ma terially. She therefor e took her
very seriously. Marisa presented herself at w or k as a prof
sional and respectable young woman by demonstrat
di l igence, competence, modesty, a cheerfu l demeanor, a
impeccable grooming . Marisa 's dai ly rout ine was to rise ea
enough to shower, iron a conservative skirt and blouse, ap
make-up, get dressed, grab something to eat and run for
bus.
She came home for lu nch and a rest and then return ed
wo rk. She returned again imm ediately fo l lo w ing her seco
shift after dark.
Tension soon arose over Marisa's evening arrival t im
Francisco and his wife told Marisa that she must come ho
imm ediately fo l lo wi ng her shif t wit hou t any detours. Ma
accepted this without question, but that was not the end o
Her brother and sister-in-law informed her that they knew
bus schedule and the time she should arrive if she caught
f irst bus after her shift. They threatened th at if she arriv
home more than a few minutes after that bus should ha
passed the corner, she w ou ld be lock ed out. Marisa protes
this, because it was not always possible to leave her job
exactly eight o'clo ck t o catch the bus. She insisted that
wo uld d o her best, but that sometimes she wo u ld have to ca
the next bus. Despite these reassurances, Marisa's sister-in-
and brother regularly reminded her sternly to come strai
hom e and reiterated their threat. Ma risa foun d this treatm
offensive and furthermore inexplicable, because she
always been perfect ly w el l behaved.
Then one evening, the worst happ ened. Marisa caught
second bus, walked the block to the house and found the g
locked.
She knock ed and calle d, but neither her brother
her sister-in-law w ou ld let her in . She begg ed, plea ded ,
we pt. Finally, after wh at seemed to her an eternity, t
re lented and let her in. This experience terr i f ie d, hum il iat
and deeply insulted Marisa and soured her experience
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ancun . She di d n ot feel free to leave, how ever, because she
felt obligated to help support her family. She desperately
wanted her favorite older sister to leave the vil lage and come
live wi th the m , and whe n a posit ion came open in the office in
early 1994, she wen t and brought Sali back to Cancun .
Life was much more pleasant together for Sali and Marisa.
There was an undercurrent of tension between the sisters and
their sister-in-law, but everything wo rked for about six months.
Then the en tire household w ent back to the vil lage to sponsor
an elaborate fiesta de Quinceanos (15th birthday party) for
anothe r you ng sister. After an expensive and successful party,
Francisco insulted his sisters, charging them with general
sexual imp ropr iety, and his wi fe joined i n. Sali demanded an
imm ediate retraction and apology.
16
Encouraged by her sister's
boldness, Marisa expressed herself
as
w e l l .
A shouting match
ensued that many neighbors overheard (and readily recounted
to m e on m y n ext visit). In the course of the row, the tw o
sisters insisted that their integrity, propriety and family loyalty
we re w ell established, and that they did no t
deserve,
nor wou ld
they bear further insults.
Sali and M arisa got up the next day, caught the bus back to
Cancun, rented an apartment, and m oved ou t of their brother's
house.
This m ove was not acceptable to their parents or their
brother, but there was simply nothing they could do about it.
Sali and Marisa felt strong moral resolve about their choice of
act ion.
Apart from their estrangement from their brother and
his fami ly, the tw o sisters' lives proceeded as usual. They
continued to work at their jobs, paid their bil ls, sent remit-
tances to their parents, and easily m anaged the requirem ents of
independ ent l ivi ng . Every mo nth or so, their brother wou ld
com e by and tfy to encourage the tw o sisters to m ove back into
his house. They were not interested.
Yet, when I returned in 1996, the two sisters had moved
back into their brother's house. W hen I asked how that had
happened,
Sali explained that they had not wanted to waste
mo ney on rent that could be spent on their fam ily, nor did they
wa nt the family to c ontinue to be fragmented. Sali and Marisa
had gone to Francisco, apolog ized for their actions and begged
his forgiveness. He forgave them instantly and they m oved
back in. Francisco never apologized. Although they formally
cap itulated in the en d, the sisters felt con fide nt that the insults
would not be repeated.
In this case, Francisco's attem pt to establish and enforce an
o ld ,
vil lage-style divis ion of private and pub lic spheres rapidly
became untenable for his sister, Marisa, who also had to
conform to the competing time/space/gender discipline of her
a ged job . Tensions abated somew hat whe n Sali arrived in
ancun,
as the two sisters had more power together in the
ousehold than Marisa had exercised alone.
Sti l l ,
Francisco
fe co ntinue d to pose themselves as strict disciplinari-
s and to sub ject
Sali
and Marisa to random interrogations and
g insinuations about their activit ies do wn tow n. This
The sisters' revolt unm asked the injustice of this situation
the fam ily to see. Francisco and their parents tacitly
ledged that they were taking a val id posit ion. Their
parents indicated that their daughters had a point by faithf
reporting their posit ion with out crit ical com me nt. Franci
show ed some contr it ion by visit ing them repeatedly and us
a conc iliatory ton e wheneve r he asked them to re turn. Th
subtle cues grad ually assuaged the sisters' sense of
outrage
the en d, Marisa and Sali wo n a partial but signif icant victory
plac ing limits on the restrictions imposed by their brother
must be noted that they accomplished this witho ut rejecting
even questioning the connection between female propriety a
returning home direct ly f rom w ork. What they sought
and
w
was an adjustment of expectations that reflected the pract
difficulties of urban life with its unavoidable uncertainties, a
a higher degree of trust and flex ibil ity.
Negot iat ing a Return to Small Tow n Life
The second ethnographic story describes a very differ
experience of labor migration and requirements for the prac
of female gender that resulted in a distinct wo rkin g m ode
first met Thalfa in the village in 1993 when she visited
mother. By
then,
she had been wor kin g for almo st seven ye
first as a nanny and then as a maid in a hotel down the co
from Cancun . Thalfa explained to me that she had been for
by circumstance to go find work . Her parents were divorc
and her m other, maternal grandparents, and aunts despera
needed mon ey. Fu lfilling this respo nsibility had cost Tha
personally. In this small town, it is generally understood t
girls need the consent of their boyfriends if they wish to w
and continue their relationships.
Thai fa s
boyfriend did
give consent, but rather rejected her when she left to work
the Caribbean coast
1 7
The wo rk as a hotel m aid was stable and also grueling a
relentless. Thalfa worked six days per week, taking only a f
weeks off wit hou t pay each year. She lived in rough liv
quarters prov ided by the hotel, sharing a sm all, hot room w
one female co-worker. Meals were prov ided in a mess
h
Her work uniform was the standard for hotel maids on
Mexican Caribbean, a pastel-embroidered mini-huipil, wh
evoked a soft, cotton-candified image of indigenous Yuca
May a wom en for tourists. This uniform cou ld not have be
more contrary to the image Thalfa chose to project. Althou
she worked most of the time and sent the bulk of her wag
home,
during her scant leisure time Thalfa developed
glamorous super-model style. She perused beauty magazin
and carefully selected and purchased clothing and make-
Style was the mo st im portan t feature in Thai fa's presentation
self. She did not appear in public without a perfectly p
together outfit, ha irdo , and subtle make-up . Style was a
fundamental to Thai fa s working model, despite the fact
she was freer to use it off the job than o n (due to the requi
pseudo-ethnic u niform ). In her hom etow n, she was conside
stunningly beautiful.
After seven years of hard labo r, Thalfa had app arently h
enough.
She began to indicate to her mother and ot
relatives that she might return hom e. This news filte
through tow n and, through a subt le chain of comm unicat i
her old boyfriend indicated that he might have her ba
Reuniting as a couple was not, however, a straightforw
process. Thalfa started returnin g to vis it fairly fre que n
1
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ordin g to vil lage gossip, Thai fa and her boyfrien d, Luis,
a series of negotiations. W om en com me nting
e situation genera lly averred that Luis and Thai fa made a
t of agreements abou t whe n she wo uld qu it work, how she
ou ld behave at hom e, and even how long she w ou ld have to
Beginning with the August fiesta in 1994, Thalfa and Luis
seen together, arm-in-extremely-w ell-dressed-arm
w promenades through the center of
t o w n .
This public
novios (boyfriend and
ceptable to her fam ily. According to mu ltiple
ge of Thalfa and Luis. His mother, Dona H um ilde , was
atch.
This report surprised m e, because Dona H um ilde was an
18
She was so shy that she left her
as infrequently as possible, sending her older sons and
19
Dona
n extreme for m . She was, apparently, also strongly
mitted to the construction of gender, gendered wo rk, and
Thalfa must have seemed like an unlikely candidate to
the pattern of a tradit ional wife . The level of indepen d-
lead. Furthermore, as a single youn g wo ma n wh o
sexual propriety. No one familiar could vouch for Thalfa's
avior. It was impos sible to know for certain if she had
e consented to the m arriage only w hen she was c onvince d
fa
wou ld accept
a
traditional wife's role and behave as
daughter-in-law.
Thalfa and Luis were m arried late in 19 95. As a bride, the
on plate Thalfa wore the tradit ional Yucatec Ma ya wh ite
terno (regional traditiona l formal gow n). She was
rst bride to do so in tow n in over twenty-five years. This
ther-in-law and acceptance of a tradit ionally-defined
estic sphere. Since her marriage, Thalfa has behaved like
al w ife and daughter-in-law in key respects, inclu ding
most of her days at home w ith her m other-in-law.
It is clear that Thalfa was not on ly
w i l l ing,
b ut also eager to
ork and stay home
as
a house wife. It is equa lly clear that
of this goal, because of the private -
saliendo
she made use of the skills she deve loped d uri ng her
or ki ng life. Thalfa's successful use of style provide d the most
ct advantage she possessed. The fact that she was judg ed
our prov ided Thalfa with prestige and thus a measure of
er in tow n. This prestige did much to make up for
the potential deficiencies in character that some (most imp
tantly, her future mother-in-law) perceived as a result of h
independent career.
Coed Youth Cu lture Party H ouse
The third and final story deals with yet another entir
distinct situation in another household in Cancu n whe re I of
stayed.
Ofe lia, her brother Juan, and four o f their cousi
Linda, Dino, Clemente, and Rafaela, all l ived together in
sma ll two-ro om house. Ofe lia was the first to com e to Canc
and, by 1993, at the age of 28, she had been working as
secretary for over ten years. A c ou ple o f years after she ar riv
Ofelia got a job in her off ice for Linda, and the two w om en h
been wo rkin g together ever since. Gra dua lly their young
sibl ings had come to jo in them and f ind work, a l l of th
fo l low ing the dream of saliendo adelante.
This group of three wo m en an d three m en, ranging in a
from late teens to late twenties, was enjoying life away fr
hom e in spite of long wo rkin g hours. The ir house was set
for fun. A big color TV and VCR and a Sony Stacked mu
system with receiver, tape deck, CD player and power
speakers dom inated the tiny front ro om . Mo st evenings a
w ork , they all reconvened to eat a light supper prepared b y a
one or the group of them. They listened to music , dan ced,
watche d cable TV movies or videos. Oc cas iona lly, on Saturd
nights, they would go downtown to get ice cream, wind
shop,
or see a mo vie. The boyfriend s of L inda, Ofelia , a
Rafaela often came by, and sometimes the couples went
alone. Ofe lia, Linda, and their siblings w ere all self-possess
professionals, in their own mutual estimation, and their mode
urban lifestyle was meant to convey this. Alth oug h they d id
wish to insult their hometown, none of them was interested
returning to small town life (compare Re Cruz: 114, 119).
Once w hen I was visi t ing with the parents of L inda, D in
Clem ente, and Rafaela, Linda told the fo llo w ing story about
night that Dino had failed to come home from his job in t
distant Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zon e). In a teasing yet
outraged tone, Linda recounted that Dino had gone drink
with his friends without bothering to notify his siblings, eith
in person or via messenger. He had stayed out all nig ht, go
to wor k directly the next day, and did not arrive hom e un til l
the fo l lowing evening. This was unprecedented beh avior,
the rest of them were frantic, fearing something terrible m
have happened. W hen they foun d out that he had just be
out carousing, they were al l furious wit h him . Throu ghout
tell ing of this story, their mother listened sympathetically, a
at several points she looked at Dino with gentle reproach.
Linda closed the story by tell i ng D in o, Yo u must not
that, you have to come let us kno w befo re you go ou t. U p
this point, Dino had been silent and appeared sheepish a
contrite. To this last com men t, howe ver , he responded that
could do whatever he wanted. At th is L inda, with eyes f lari
repl ied,
O h really, then I am going to do it, and w e w il l se
you l ike i t . Dino then took a serious tone and em phat ica
told Linda, N o, I can do i t , but YO U CA N N O T. Linda s
back an indignant comm ent, the gist of wh ich was N O
SENSE, and that was the end of the exchang e. Their mo t
did not comment.
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M y interpretation of this scene is that Linda was attempting
bers, male and female, wou ld be equal ly responsible. Her
tand either w ay on the issue. Regardless of this lack of
da did not waver in her convict ion .
Gr ow ing up, Linda enjoy ed her parent's trust. They
y encouraged her indepe ndenc e, sense of com petence,
ent and am bitio n. Her parents, furtherm ore, had never
ny clear difference in the rights and privileges due
ters. Linda's relationships wi th her brothers and sister
quite egalitarian. If any thing , she had enjoyed
nce as the eldest. Linda was thus perfectly
scourses on gender equa lity circulating in
blic school direc tly to heart, and she did (see Levinson 2001 :
W hen Linda com pleted her professional secretarial studies
Ho we ver, even in the urban environm ent, Linda's
frustrated,
as
ruggle w ith D ino recounted above. Perhaps
ually perplexed about the resistance she met. Likewise,
men an d wom en struck Linda as unfair and unaccept-
he rejected them o utrigh t. Linda was not about to
ma n. She and her boy frien d, Rolando, frequently argued
issues of freedom and co ntro l. She inform ed R olando that
wo uld never quit work to get ma rried . In fact, the com mon
on of m arriage wit h co nfinem ent at home and unques-
the age of twenty- eight, she was deeply ambiva-
of ever m arrying at all .
Conclus ion
In conclusion, the gendered div ision o f private and publ ic
es continues to be an importan t feature of social life, both
n. This remains true despite the fact that econom ic
gender practices and discourses. Man y young
ith the blessings of their families . Nonetheless, ideas and
ply evanesced under changed circumstances. On the
The three stories presented above show that young wo me n
saliendo adelante. To
riate gender practices. They canno t ignore the past. In
w n ran into major social and practical diff icult ies arising from
the historical, exclusive association of wo m en w ith the dom
tic sphere.
Despite their nearly identical socioec onom ic backgroun
the wom en portrayed here pursued highly divergent strateg
in their efforts to build working models that reconcile tr
t ional demands for propriety with the practical demands
participation in wage labor. Sali and Marisa sought to m o
expectations o n grounds of prag matism , rather than challe
the fundamental values of the former rural gender syst
Thai fa put her re puta tion at risk by m igra ting alone . This
became particularly signif icant when she decided that
wanted to move back home, marry and embrace the m
tradit ional form of the division of private and public
operating. Invoking the emergent ' 'good daughter discou
and using style resources developed in her working yea
Thalfa comp leted an end run around the social questions rai
by her mig ration . Finally, Linda attempted to reformulate
relationship be tween private and p ub lic spheres and to disc
gendered associations with either, in part by articulat
gender-neutral standards for behavior for all househ
me mbe rs. In this she got l it t le cooperation from her m
relatives and boy friend, and she chose to rema in single into
thirt ies as a result. In sum, the divi de betw een private
public spheres remains important as women develop work
models for participation in wage labor. How ever, the me
ings, boundaries, and organization of these spheres as well
the relationships between them are being transmogrif ied
unpredictable ways in practice. •
Notes
1.
Although young women frequently expressly identi fy t
resp ons ibility* t o their parents, they d o n ot describe themse
specifically
as
good daughters. Othe r people, outside of the nuc
family unit, are more l ikely to describe a given young woman
good* {buena) because of the financial help she provides her par
and sibl ings by wo rking at a waged job. As I w i l l argue below,
defini t ion of unmarried working women as good daughters he
transform interpretations of the situation of wo me n wo rkin g outside
household from an
evi l ,
sometimes necessitated by extreme pove
into a socially viable and even desirable, if stil l tenuo us, state of aff
2.1 argue in m y dissertation (Greene n.d.) that the practical produ c
of working women goes hand-in-glove with the production of no
forms of female gender.
3. I am convinced of the analytical util ity of the identification of l
mod els, as Gudem an and Rivera are in their study of compe
econom ic models operative in contemporary rural Colom bia, and m
my analysis on theirs. I
am,
nonetheless, uneasy abou t the word mo
itself,
because of the comm on use of the term to denote f ixed, comp
physical bodies. The attachment of the mo difier wo rkin g is inten
to rem ind the reader of the practical and discursive character of mo
under discussion here and to avo id any suggestion of fixity.
4 . Many novel youth cultures are emerging alongside the m
movement of rural youth into urban wage labor.
5. For wo m en in particular, ado pting urban styles focuses the deve
ment of saliendo adelante working models in the wage labor are
For most young women I interviewed, style consumption
expression is seen as a fundame ntal fea ture of d aily performance
female urba n professional (see also Freeman 200 0: 213-25 2). Iss
of gender pro priety a nd re spectability lie at the heart of discourses
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nthropology
of W ork
Review
the produc tion of urban personal style. For
the expression of style responds both to the dem ands of the
Gudem an and Rivera
explain,
Whereas a metaphor is suggestive
n, a model is a detai led wo rking o ut or appl ication of a f igure.
n of my research over fourtee n months in 1992 -1993. Since
I have returned to visit every few years. The extension of private
wn in 1999 has made it easier to maintain bonds
hemselves in interviews includ ed Somospobres. ( We are
people. ), Somos
pobres
campesinos. ( W e are poor farmers.*),
puros campesinos. ( We are all just farmers.*). Such
e speakers as humble peop le who live off the land through
to i l . It is likely that these or very similar m etaphors
pub lic spheres has a deep
I seek to account o nly for the specificities of the system for the
.
This particular speech convention, and others like it, are transla-
cations embedded in them are mu lti-layered. Evasive
of rural peop le. Nonetheless, I contend that these imp licit d enials
.
P rior to this, teachers were the only small yet significant grou p w ho
rk for long periods.
.
Across generations, many people infer that only losers would
Mothers and fathers frequen tly related that they told their
s something to the effect that, If you're no t smart and you d on 't
hard in school, the only thing you wil l be able to do is work hard
sun.*
Girls wh o did not succeed in school or nurture aspirations
W hile a cceptable, this course was not considered particu-
.
Adu lt sons in tow n have always had some financial responsibility
Because the organ ization of agriculture
ies in every sense with their natal families into adu lthoo d. At
t one son assumed responsibility for the suppo rt and care of elderly
The discourse of saliendo adelante has expanded social
garding financial support. N ow , good sons (and for that
vor to raise their parents' nivel de vida (level of l iving) b y, for
le, bui lding them a bathroom or a modern house with wind ows ,
vidin g a refrigerator or furniture. Al l such endeavors require
.
M any grandmothers I interviewed described m aintaining primary
otion al loyalty to the ir ow n parents and siblings after marriage and
ce whe n possible. Howeve r, young wives had no clearly
establ ished right to visi t or continuing responsibi l i ty to their pare
(beyond upholding the family name and reputation).
15 .
The completion of secondary school (grades 6-9) invol
considerable expense for parents despite the fact that it is leg
obl igato ry. Furthermore, education beyond secondary school
op tion al, and parents must shou lder m ost of the costs if they w ish th
chi ldren to continue studying towa rd a profession.
16. Across Yucatan, to level a charge of sexual impropriety agains
wo ma n is extrem ely serious business. W om en of all ages tha
interviewed held that it is essential for a woman to respond aggr
sively to any insult to her reputation, especially since an insult to
also implicates her who le natal fam ily. I f a woma n ignores such
insult, a common conclusion is that the charge is true.
17 . At the point of engagement, i t is very common for young men
'req uire * their fiancees to quit wo rk and stay at home. This si tuat
is now often complicated by widely perceived f inancial responsibi l it
to parents.
18 .
One of the women who suppl ied me with this version of eve
responded to my surprise over Dona Hum ilde's al leged oppos it ion
saying, Aunque sea mosca, pica ( 'al though she may be just a f ly,
stings ). Even though Dona Hum ilde was very t im id in publ ic , she
reportedly wi l l in g and able to exercise powerful inf luence with in
ow n household and family, even over grown sons. W hil e I can
verify this version of events, because I got it second- and third-ha
(repeatedly), this story fits with the ethnographic record (see
example, Elmendorf 1976; Redfield and Vi l la Rojas [1934] 196
Despite the fact that women did not part icipate actively in pub
forums in agricultural vi l lages across Yucatan, women genera
exercised considerable practical authori ty within households, es
cially over their children, regardless of their ages.
19 .
For example, Dona Humilde told me that formerly she h
sometimes taken her husband's surplus agricultural produce to sel
a nearby market tow n. Howeve r, the publ ic speaking and interacti
wi th strangers in the market fi l led her w ith sham e. She inform ed
husband that she could not stand it and quit.
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Volume
XXII
Number 3