Wearing Union T-shirts: Undocumented Women Farm Workers and Gendered Circuits of Political Power
Author: Seif, Hinda
Date Published: 2008
Abstract: Numerous scholars have analyzed the political victimization of undocumented Mexican (im)migrant women. A study of women farm workers and state legislative politics in the Salinas Valley reveals genered circuits of power that link undocumented women to Latino elected officials through their participation in electoral mobilization led by the United Farm Workers union and facilitated by Latina organizers. Power flows from politicians to immigrant women and circulates in the reverse direction through the organizing efforts of undocumented activists. The political agency of these women farm workers is severely limited, however, by the mutual reinforcement of their immigration status and their economic marginalization.
Date Published: 2008
Abstract: Numerous scholars have analyzed the political victimization of undocumented Mexican (im)migrant women. A study of women farm workers and state legislative politics in the Salinas Valley reveals genered circuits of power that link undocumented women to Latino elected officials through their participation in electoral mobilization led by the United Farm Workers union and facilitated by Latina organizers. Power flows from politicians to immigrant women and circulates in the reverse direction through the organizing efforts of undocumented activists. The political agency of these women farm workers is severely limited, however, by the mutual reinforcement of their immigration status and their economic marginalization.
