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

XXlL Number 3




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.

Volume

XXII

Numb



nthropolo y

of Work Review

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

XXII. Number 3



Anthropology of W ork Review

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

VolumeXXII, Numb



Anthropology of W ork Review

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.

Volume XXII Number 3




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

Vohtmt

XXII

Numb



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.

References

Deere, Carmen Diana and Magdalena Leon de

Leal.

19 81 . Peas

Produc tion, Proletarianization, and the Sexual Division of Labor in

Andes.

Signs:

Journal of Wom en in C ulture and Society 7(2): 338-3

Elmendorf, Mary. 1976. Nine Mayan Women : A Village Fa

Change. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc.

Freeman, Carla. 200 0. High Tech and High Heels in the Glo

Economy: W omen, Wo rk, and Pink-Collar Identities in the Caribbe

Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Greene, Al ison, n.d. Huipiles and Spandex: Refashioning Gende

the Global E conomy of a Small Town in Yucatin. Ph.D. dissertat

University of N orth Carol ina at Chapel H i l l .

Gud ema n, Stephen and Alberto Rivera. 1990. Conversations

Colombia: The domestic economy in life and

text.

Cambr id

Cambridge University Press.

Levinson, Bradley A. U. 20 01 . We Are All Equal: Student Culture

Identity at a Mexican Secondary Schoo l, 1988-1998. Durham

London: Duke University Press.

Re Cruz, Al icia . 1996. The Two Milpas of Chan Kom : A Stud

Socioeconomic and Political Transformation in a Maya Comm u

Albany: State University of New York Press.

Redfield, Robert and Alfonso Vill a Rojas. (1934) 19 62. Chan Kom

Maya Village. Chicago & Lon don : University of Chicago Press.

Volume

XXII

Number 3

working girls, cancun style

Documents