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and remain “grounded” in the data, I changed the focus of this study since participants of
the in-depth interviews and focus groups consistently pointed out the impact of the lives
styles, working conditions and vulnerability of young female migrants in the border.
Although the guide for the interviews and focus groups were directed towards
socialization of gender roles and sexuality, participants insisted in bringing up the killings
of female migrants in Cd. Juárez, many of which were maquiladora workers. Consistent
with the grounded theory, I focused on the phenomenon that participants thought was
important regarding the social process of migration that is taking place in the border.
The general objective of this paper is to analyze the contradictory cultural repercussions
of the feminization of the labor force in the racialized and gendered socio-economic
dynamics that take place in Cd. Juárez . I am particularly interested in exploring the way
in which sexist violence, social structures, and gendered patterns of domination are
constructed, disguised, reinforced and disseminated in the official discourse of the neo-
liberal state, particularly in regard to the killing of working class, brown young women. I
am specifically interested in understanding the struggles of identity politics and
representational tensions that occur in the construction of brown working-class young
women by the state and different sectors of the border city of Cd. Juárez. This paper
focuses on a specific kind violence against working class women in Cd. Juárez and
some of the ways in which the State and other social forces have responded to the
femicide that is taking place in the border.
Introduction
The global flows of people, goods, information and ideas that have become
increasingly prominent in the late 20th century challenge some conventional theories
Convention