LIVING IN FEAR: A maquiladora worker speaks candidly about what it's like to work in Ciudad Juárez today.

My name is Martha and I am 34 years old. I began working in the maquiladoras of Ciudad Juárez when I was 16. My current shift at the maquila is from twelve midnight to six in the morning. Because of my schedule — and because I am a widow — I have to leave my three children alone each night.

When I leave the house I am very scared that something might happen to me or one of my children, because of all of the things that have been happening to women in Juárez. Just knowing that there are people out there who are killing women in the streets makes me very nervous and wary of anybody I meet on my way to work.

To lessen the fear, I get together with other women workers who share my shift and who live in my colonia. That way we can travel together and protect each other. All of my coworkers at the maquiladora share this fear. When we can talk about the murdered workers, the women in Juárez, we talk about the injustice of the situation and we ask ourselves what is going on with the police here; we ask why there isn't more of a police presence — especially at night.

Maybe because of the fact that we are women, we don't matter to the government or the maquiladoras where we work. We have had to learn to live with this silent fear because we need the work.

The maquiladoras say they are taking preventive measures to protect us. They have given us whistles and talks on self-defense. But we don't need whistles. What we need are better salaries, guard posts, transportation to and from our houses, and public services like streetlights in the colonias.

God willing, this nightmare will end soon and that those responsible for so many crimes will be punished so that the women of Juárez can live and work in peace.

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WOMEN ARE MORE EASILY MANAGED: Alma, a worker from Tijuana, uncovers the realities of the maquila system.

In the maquiladoras they hire women because men created more problems for them. We women are more easily managed. The bosses just have to express their concerns about production and we women, fools that we are, work even harder to protect their profits while we ourselves are dying of hunger. They break our spirit over any issue whatsoever. "Look, girls, the work is stacking up in Los Angeles from lack of sales. We're doing everything we can to move the dresses out so you won't be laid off, but you all have to help us out. How do you think we could raise your wages?" And, of course, we forget all about ourselves; we're powerless because we're divided, and in the absence of a labor union, they do with us as they wish. They always come up with a pretext to smooth things over and keep us under control.

By contrast, a male worker wouldn't stand for it — he's more aggressive. Men organize themselves, and if they don't get what they want, they walk off the job, which really inconveniences management. Under such conditions, the owners have to make concessions. That's why they pull in any young girl to work. They train them and pay them the minimum wage if they can. The owners well understand this; they don't hire men because the maquiladoras would not be as productive.

When I was working in the maquiladora, a number of us got together to discuss work, what they should be paying us, how they should be treating us. We had these meetings in a restaurant over coffee.

We women understand that we are more responsible and that this is partly why the factory owners prefer us as workers. Many maquiladora workers are single mothers and women whose husbands have abandoned them. It's not so easy for them to walk away from a job. This is an advantage for the owners because the girls have to provide for their children.

Many, the large majority of us, only went to primary school, which is why we have to take whatever we get. We can't afford the luxury of being too choosy about work. It wasn't because women didn't have the opportunity that many didn't go to school. Rather, it's because many Mexican women still embrace the idea that there is no reason to study if they are going to get married and be supported by their husband. So many times we've heard the girls say, "Now, I'm going to get married because I want to relax." And everything just gets worse for the poor girls because they end up with even more work, at home and in the factory.

I think a lot of men marry these women because they see they are workers, because with their job they can make an economic contribution to the household. Women just really get ground down. [Working a job and earning a salary do not exempt women from the domestic expectations men have of them.] The man has to prepare himself [educationally] to a much greater extent. Women also should prepare themselves because sometimes their luck is not so good and they have to go it alone.

Because most of us women are not qualified, we have to accept the worst work. I'm not here because I have chosen to be. I don't care for manual labor; it was the only opportunity I had.

SOURCES: Merriam-Webster Online; "La Linea: Gender, Labor and Environmental Justice on the U.S.-Mexico Border," by Julie Light, CorpWatch; "El Paso and Ciudad Juárez" by Robert Anthony, Ann Brooks and Kenneth Lo

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