Abstract

HERTEL, Shareen. Una contienda acotada: la defensa transnacional de los derechos laborales de las mujeres en las maquiladoras de México. Región y sociedad [online]. 2003, vol.15, n.26, pp.153-191. ISSN 2448-4849.

Transnational advocacy on the rights of women workers in Mexico's maquiladoras was central to broader international debates on human rights in the 1990s. This article analyzes one such cross-border campaign, organized by activists using the labor side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The author argues that human rights activists often choose to limit their claim-making to narrowly civil and political demands, rather than more expansive economic or social rights claims. They do so because of existing institutional, resource, and political constraints. The article concludes with broader thoughts on the future of transnational human rights advocacy.

Keywords : Gender; human rights; maquiladoras; social movements; nongovernmental organization/ NGO's; globalization; North American Free Trade Agreement.