Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mexico's "New" Rural Women: Gendered Labor and Formulations of Rural Citizenship

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As men increasingly migrate away from the Mexican countryside to seek work in the United States, women are left behind to take on new roles in agricultural fields, households, and communities. While studies of U.S.-Mexican migration often focus on the economic impact of remittances from migrant laborers, the political and economic role of undocumented workers in the United States, and migrant experiences of border crossing and settlement, less attention is given to the shifting dynamics of labor in Mexican sending communities. The role of state-led development projects that promote grassroots development initiatives is a key aspect of transforming labor relations in rural Mexico. As part of the Mexican state's attempt to formulate a new rural citizen who no longer relies upon state support, but rather sees the state as a partner in self-initiated economic prosperity, state-led development projects are specifically targeting rural women. The objective of this study is to investigate how male emigration and state-run development projects are reshaping women's rural labor in the state of Oaxaca. Through quantitative methods of household and community surveying and qualitative methods of participant observation, life histories, and semi-structured interviews, this study will examine how dramatic political and economic changes in Mexico are restructuring gendered labor in three key areas: household labor, productive economic labor, and political labor. The study will center around three main research questions: 1. How is male emigration from rural Oaxaca restructuring household labor relations? 2. How do new gendered labor relations reshape women's political roles in Oaxacan communities? 3. How are changing gendered labor relations incorporated into the federal government's re-conceptualization of "new" productive citizens? Through an examination of changing labor relations in each of these areas, this project will explore how both Oaxacan women and the Mexican state are using changing labor discourses and practices to formulate a new type of rural gendered citizenship.While studies of economic globalization have highlighted the increasing feminization of industrial labor and its exploitative consequences for women in the global south, they have often overlooked the dynamics of gendered labor relations in rural areas. By providing an ethnographic account of the political effects of shifting labor practices in rural Oaxaca, this study highlights the rural aspects of women's labor struggles within broader political and economic contexts. Through dissemination to academics, Mexican development officials, and Oaxacan communities, this research will have a potential impact upon how development policy is formulated and on how communities seek to engage or challenge development initiatives. Likewise, the project's focus on women's political participation will contribute to both state-led and grassroots initiatives that seek to expand women's access to political arenas in Mexico at the scales of the community, the state, and the nation.