In this innovative exploration of the interaction between economic
processes and social relations, Lourdes Benería and Martha Roldán
examine the effect of homework on gender and family dynamics. Their
fieldwork in Mexico City during 1981-82 has enabled them to provide
important new empirical data on industrial piecework performed by women
as well as intimate glimpses of these women's lives which place that
piecework in context. Tracing the stages of production from home to
jobber, workshop, and manufacturer (often a multinational corporation),
the authors demonstrate the way in which the work and lives of these
women are connected through subcontracting to the national and often
international system of production.