Gender Transitions Along Borders

Marlene Solís is currently a Researcher and Professor in the Department of Social Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF). She holds a PhD in social sciences with a specialty in regional studies from COLEF, and a Master’s in urban development from El Colegio de México (Mexico College).

• Preface; Introduction: a feminist view of borders, Marlene Solís. Part I Gender and Borders: Theoretical Aspects: Global borders: a gender interpretation, Natalia Ribas-Mateos; Work, family, and gender relations on the northern border of Mexico, Silvia López Estrada. Part II Work and Family in Global Companies: Women’s work in northern Morocco: emancipation or exploitation?, Nadia Naïr and Zohra El-Khamlichi; The symbolic place of female workers in the borderland export industry: the case of Morocco, Rosa Ma. Soriano Miras, Antonio Trinidad, Kathryn Kopinak and Jenna Hennebry; A comparison of family cultures among migrants with work experience in export processing industries in Mexico and Morocco, Kathryn Kopinak, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Rosa María Soriano Miras, Antonio Trinidad and Jenna Hennebry. Part III Sexuality and Sexual Violence: Young women in Tijuana and growing cohabitation rates, Norma Ojeda de la Peña; Being a homosexual woman in the borderlands: stories told by couples living in Matamoros, Oscar Misael Hernández-Hernández; The bodies of the trafficked, Helena Maleno. Part IV Women’s Resistance and Collective Action: Associations, gender, and feminism in Tangier: a reflection on the current conditions of political change taking place in the Arab world, Mercedes Jiménez Álvarez; The factor X experience: women with a dark soul, Marlene Solís; Epilogue, Marianne Marchand. References; Interviews; Index.

’This book presents an original study of the heterogeneous realities evidenced in both the northern borderlands of Mexico and of Morocco. Significantly, the interdisciplinary approach enriches and breaks paradigms about globalization and gender showing, for example, that the transformations within the manufacturing realm require a reassessment of the meaning of traditional womanhood and of power relations. This research contributes to the knowledge of women’s reality in differing spheres of life.’ Beatriz Castilla Ramos, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México ’This multi-layered nexus of globalization and survival, migration and work, gender, identity and family, offers a much-needed contribution to the scholarship. Moreover, the collection’s emphasis on violence and vulnerability, as well as transnational feminist resistance in the form of grassroots collective action makes this book a signal achievement. This comparative approach is of great significance for international scholars and activists, as well as anyone interested in women’s rights and human rights, particularly in transnational settings.’ Cynthia Bejarano, New Mexico State University, USA