Abstract

ARVIZU REYNAGA, Vanessa  and  ESTRADA GUTIERREZ, Flor Daniela. Caring Underground: The Experience of Women Caregivers Working in the Popular Economy Inside the Mexico City Metro. Rev. interdiscip. estud. género Col. Méx. [online]. 2023, vol.9, e1009.  Epub Sep 25, 2023. ISSN 2395-9185.  https://doi.org/10.24201/reg.v9i1.1009.

In this article, we analyze the combination of care work and paid work performed by women “vagoneras” who sell items on the metro trains of Mexico City’s Collective Transport System (STC). Our study is based on two ethnographic studies carried out between 2020 and 2022. Through a process of observation, participant observation, and in-depth interviews with 11 vagoneras aged between 17 and 53 years old, we found that these women are mostly single mothers who choose this line of work because the formal labor market offers the limited possibilities to combine the care and upbringing of their children. Their children usually accompany them as they work because they lack a secure family support network and the financial means to pay for daycare centers or day schools with longer hours. However, the STC and local authorities misconstrue the accompaniment of minors as "child labor" and arrest these woman, often using violence and causing distress to both the mothers and their children.

Keywords : care work; women; subway transport; economic participation; violence.