Niña de Maquiladora

Defne Celtiki, Essay, No Density, Politics and economics, Rhea Iyer, Southern Coexistences, Territory and mobility.

Architecture&Gender, Care, City, Ciudad Juarez, Commercial infrastructure, Community, Community Facilities, Courtyard, Cultural agitator, Economy, Globalization, Informality, Labor, Mexico, Private housing, Research, Safety, Violence, Women.

Research by Rhea Iyer and Defne Celtiki developed during the SocioEcological Urgencies [time in the Anthropocene] studio at Pratt Institute.

Ciudad Juarez is a Mexican border city that is heavily industrialized due to cross-border trade between the U.S. and Mexico. The factories here are called maquiladoras and they favor female workers over men to perform their intensive labor. The globalization of the area combined with the culture of machismo has created a dangerous environment for the maquiladora women. They have been sexually assaulted, kidnapped and murdered during their commute to work, typically in the downtown area. The existing cultural structure and government institutions are not protecting their wellbeing. A potential way to address the issue could be through a crisis center for women in the downtown area, along with expansions of the bus transportation infrastructure, to create a system of centralized and distributed safe havens.