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| PBS Documentary Tells Wrenching Story of Women in ‘Maquilas’ |
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In Maquilapolis, women ‘maquila’ workers eloquently tell the story of their own lives. ‘Maquilas’ are the vast stretch of low-wage factories in Mexico strung along the U.S. border in Tijuana, known as a ‘city of factories.’ Designed and written collaboratively by a professional woman filmmaker and Mexican maquila workers, the film showcases poor women’s lives. The women’s jobs assembling electronics provide income and independence, as do assembly jobs for millions of women around the world. Yet the jobs come at a price: abuse, low wages, speed-ups and job insecurity, while the plants spew chemical contamination onto the women, their children and their neighborhoods. What would better alternatives look like? The Women's Edge Coalition proposes H.R. 5858, the Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive or GROWTH Act 2006. This bill would increase U.S. support for women worldwide in the form of micro-credit, loans to women’s businesses, greater property rights, education and training, and extending the benefits of trade to women entrepreneurs. This groundbreaking bipartisan bill developed by Edge is now before the House of Representatives. We have prepared a Viewer’s Guide to Maquilapolis that shows how the GROWTH Act responds to the dilemmas faced by women looking to escape poverty. So check your local PBS listings for the date and time in October that Maquilapolis will air on ‘Point of View.’ (In most places, it will air on Tuesday, Oct. 10.) Then call your friends, download your copy of the Viewer's Guide and start imagining what a better world would look like for those women. And take a moment to urge your Representative to support the GROWTH Act writing a letter. Simple instructions are in the Viewer’s Guide. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 ) |