Essay Example: The Maquiladora

Here is an example essay. Your do not need to be as long or developed, but this should give you an idea how to logically order your arguments.

Robin Ryan
The Maquiladora and Economical Colonialism

Mexico’s history of Colonialism prepared it for the eventual and utter economic colonialism imposed by the United States in the 20th century with the advent of NAFTA and the spread of neoliberalist trade policies. Today, Marx’s nightmare has been realized in Mexico in the institution of the maquiladora with its incessant and plaguing demand for unethically-cheap labour and all of the moral problems that accompany the economic subjugation of a people. Mexican employees of the Maquiladoras are exploited in three major ways: economically, sexually, and environmentally. This brief essay will examine these issues in the light of today’s economic colonialism which is occurring throughout Mexico, although its effects are felt the most painfully in the poorer regions.

The history of labor exploitation in Mexico by their previous Spanish overlords prepared Mexicans for, and desensitized them to, the subtle exploitation of the world of globalization. Through the forced-labour economic systems of the encomienda and the repartimiento the indigenous people of Mexico were compelled into working in exploitive conditions for large land-owners and factory-bosses. The encomienda allotted a certain number of people to a boss (the encomendero) who was supposed to provide protection for them, and in turn they were obliged to labor for the boss. In actuality, the workers were treated cruelly and were essentially slaves. The moral and political problems with the encomienda saw it replaced with an equally ethically-bankrupt system of forced-labour: the repartimiento. In the repartimiento, labour bosses would request a certain number of workers from the local magistrate, and based on the type of work being done and the time needed, the magistrate would parcel out workers like hunks of bread in a ration line. Much like the encomienda, the repartimiento resulted in wide-spread abuse of the workers who often were forced to work for very little pay, although generally they were not paid at all.

The Maquiladora is a factory that provides out-sourced, cheap labour for foreign companies to produce their products at a lower cost and ensure greater profits for themselves. In reality, maquiladoras are large pools of unskilled and easily-exploited labourers who are compelled to sell themselves, their children, and their environment to the almighty dollar in exchange for a pittance of a salary that promises nothing more than a continuance of subsistence-living.

How are Mexicans exploited by the Maquiladora? The first, and most obvious method, is through horrendously low pay. The average worker for one maquilladora, Auto Trim de Mexico, made USD$8.29 per day in 1998. This worked out to USD$1.04 per hour. With the cost of living skyrocketing 18.6% in 1998, this paycheque left little more than a few dollars for emergency expenses such as clothing in the average family-of-four’s pocket. The problem with subsistence-living, even for these workers who are earning over the minimum wage, is that there is no surplus income available for savings, investment, and preparation for emergencies. Sudden costs like a new car tire or a broken arm can quickly bankrupt a family. Even worse is that subsistence guarantees that employees will never be able to take time off to improve their education and get a better job - they are stuck as nameless cogs in the name of NAFTA and commoditized labour. When one unskilled labourer dies or is forced to leave their position, another nameless labourer steps in to fill her spot in the line, and nothing changes.

The horrendous working conditions that accompany the maquiladoras alienates many potential male workers, while bosses find that female are easier to manipulate and are more willing to endure the abusive conditions of the maquiladora. In 1998, women made up 60% of the maquiladora workforce ; this prevalence of females amongst a workforce managed by men has resulted in terrible conditions of sexual harassment and rape. Male supervisors regularly demand sexual favours from their female employees, and the machismo culture of Mexico has enabled this practice to continue without public condemnation. Women who are forced into an underpaid workforce are preyed upon by their bosses and the men who wait outside of the factories where they know young women (usually between the ages of 14 and 20) will be. Women are raped, impregnated, and condemned to a life as an outcast with little chance of attracting a husband and having a ‘normal’ family life.

The systemic abuse of young women does not stop with sexual harassment and rape. In many cases, maquiladoras colonize their female employee’s reproductive organs by forcing potential employees to take pregnancy tests, and by requiring that female employees be on the birth-control pill; if a female worker manages to get pregnant despite these rules, she may be fired.

Sadly, the economic exploitation of Mexicans goes on. The La Paz Agreement of 1983 between Mexico and the United States required that maquiladoras be required to return their hazardous waste to their home country for the home country to dispose of. This is because the maquiladora is essentially completely owned by the foreign country, so they should be responsible for the environment waste produced. The maquiladoras live up to their capitalist philosophy by choosing to maximize profits and ignore these regulations; ecologically-hazardous waste is regularly dumped into the local rivers and deserts, causing untold damage to the environment and the populace. Since 1987, only 91 of the more-than 600 maquiladoras on the US border have returned their waste for proper disposal; more than 85% of the maquiladoras illegally dump their hazardous waste into the environment. This rampant disregard for consequences has resulted in a neural-tube defect rate amongst infants in the maquiladora region that is more than twice the national average. In certain regions bordering the Rio Grande River, the infection rate for Hepatitis A has shot up 400% due to “extreme fecal contamination”.

The economic practices that accompanied the encomienda and the repartimiento did not pass away with the independence of Mexico. The practice of labour exploitation continues throughout Mexico and is easily discovered in the northern regions where the proximity the United States and the lack of strong central government enables factory bosses to flagrantly abuse human rights and environmental laws. The horrors of capitalism in this age of neoliberal free-trade mantras are especially ugly in Mexico because the culture is, sadly, used to being abused. Whereas once the overlords came from Spain with iron boots and horses, today they come from America with dollar bills and unscrupulous bosses. One exploitative colonist has been replaced by another.


Works Cited

Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras Annual Report 1998, Newsletter Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring 1999. Pg. 13
Human Rights Watch. p. 31.
The Institutions of Labour, p. 32
Kelly, Mary E. Free Trade: The Politics of Toxic Waste. p. 48.
NAFTA Index, October 1, 1998
NAFTA at 5, Global Trade Watch
Mexican Labor News & Analysis, 3/2/1999, v4, no4
Spodek, H. The World's History. Third Edition. Combined Volume.