Bringing Fantasies to Life: Panoptimex from Genders in Production: Making Workers in Mexico’s Global Factories by Leslie Salzinger

Panoptimex Maquiladora Factory in Juarez, Mexico Part of Electronics transnational: "Electroworld" Manufactures televisions High standards of speed and quality while maintaining relatively lower costs than U.S rivals

Hiring Women 70-75% of Panoptimex workers are women Average age of women is under 20 years old Women work with electronics and men work "heavy" labor jobs "What sets Panoptimex apart is the lengths to which management went to ensure a female workforce during the shortage of young women workers in the late 1980s, even as colleagues in other maquilas reluctantly began hiring men." Electroworld managers claimed they traditionally hired women

The Look of Panoptimex: Feminine Extreme feminization and objectification of workforce Only young, flirtatious women are hired Women are expected to keep an appearance to fit the factory heels, make up, thin hands, short nails "In Panoptimex they don't look for workers, they look for models-short skirts,heels, beauties" "In the process, they have designed a machine that evokes and focuses the male gaze in the service of production"

Importance of Appearance Carlos, one of the head managers, talks of designing the factory to have a specific look Walls painted in a certain fashion, everything color coded Even workers’ uniforms are color coded Light blue for women, dark blue for men, and yellow for new workers

A Watchful Eye Managers installed cameras to watch employees Installed large glass windows for bosses to peer down at workers "there are visitors all the time, and the windows all around. . . all the time you know they're watching you" With everything kept tidy and color coded, bosses are able to easily see when something is wrong or if an employee is not doing their job correctly

Ethnic Discrimination The head bosses are never Mexican Some are from the U.S Most cannot speak Spanish fluently Which sets them apart from their workers Bosses look down on Mexican workers Openly admit U.S employees earn 20% more When labor complaints are made, they blame it on the "Mexican Mind" Discrimination is clear in the clean appearance and overly watchfulness of bosses

The Hierarchy Foreign managers at top of hierarchy Men Mexican workers at bottom Women Top managers: observing from top window Supervisors: watch lines and observe workers from the floor Workers: Keeping up with the established work rate

Workers Conditions Poorly paid Typically no promotions roughly 40 U.S. dollars per week below standard of living in Juarez missing a day of work costs 1/3 of weekly pay check Typically no promotions 3/4 of workforce is replaced annually Many teen workers who lack benefits Obsessive observing by bosses creates motivation for rapid work

Self-Worth of Employees Part of visual aspect- making the efficiency of the worker public Via charts, competition "I feel ashamed. It's all just competition. You look at the girl next to you and you want to do better than she does even though it shouldn't matter." Gives managers a power leverage by making workers’ performance public Worker identity is ignored, they are merely "objects"

Male Gaze The distinction between jobs for men and jobs for women are over-exaggerated Through the hierarchy of top male supervisors and bottom female workers, compounded with obsessive observing, the women become objectified and gendered. In a sense, it becomes a male gaze The communication between male supervisors and female workers oftens is sexualized Supervisors flirtatiously joke with workers

Masculine Issues Between the men in the factory, there is often competition for appearing macho Men compete to show control over women workers The men who work the line are ignored by male supervisors because a job on the line is not deemed “masculine.” Lack of supervision gives male line workers relative autonomy, however.

Gender Matters "Gender matters because women workers are addressed and constituted within the confines of a particular set of gendered meanings-made anew on the shop floor in the transnationally produced image of nubile pliancy." Importance of gender dynamics extend to masculine identities of the men macho supervisors, unimportant men doing line work

Conclusion The focus of visual upkeep in the Panoptimex factory has objectified and gendered their employees To their women employees it has sexualized them This in return has created a hierarchy between the workers placing Mexicans in lower positions and women at the bottom