[asia-apec 67] US-Mexico: Abuse of Women in Maquiladora factories

[by way of daga <daga at hk.super.net>]

MEXICO'S MAQUILADORAS: ABUSES AGAINST WOMEN WORKERS   

17 Aug 96--The Mexican government fails to protect women from
pregnancy testing and other discriminatory treatment in export-
processing factories (maquiladoras) along the U.S.-Mexico border.  In
No Guarantees: Sex Discrimination in Mexico's Maquiladora Sector,
released today, the Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project finds
that major U.S.-based and other corporations routinely subject
prospective female employees to mandatory urine testing, invasive
questions about their contraceptive use, menses schedule or sexual
habits in order to screen out pregnant women and deny them jobs. 
Human Rights Watch also finds that some maquiladoras mistreat or force
to resign women who became pregnant shortly after being hired.

Mexico's maquiladora sector is dominated by U.S. 
corporations, which own at least 90 percent of the factories. 
Maquiladoras are a source of billions of dollars a year in export
earnings for Mexico and employ over 500,000 workers, at least 50
percent of whom are women.  Maquiladoras owned by major corporations,
including General Motors, General Electric, Zenith, Panasonic, W.R.
Grace, Sunbeam-Oster, Carlisle Plastics, Sanyo, and AT&T, were all
found to require pregnancy exams as a condition of employment, thereby
subjecting women applicants to a different hiring criteria than men. 
In response to a letter from Human Rights Watch, the Zenith
Corporation noted, "[I]t is common practice among Mexican and
maquiladora employers in Matamoros and Reynosa to inquire about
pregnancy status as a pre-existing medical condition," and admitted to
screening out pregnant women from its applicant pools in order to
avoid the  costs of company-funded maternity benefits.

Based on interviews with women from more than forty 
maquiladoras in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, and
Tamaulipas, the report concludes that the majority of the companies
investigated in the report conduct pregnancy testing using their own
medical personnel or those in nearby private clinics.  Maquiladora
personnel told women applicants that if they were pregnant they would
not be hired and if they became pregnant they would be fired. 
Although the outright firing of pregnant women is uncommon, Human
Rights Watch documented cases of maquiladora personnel forcing
pregnant workers to work unpaid overtime; reassigning pregnant
employees to more physically difficult work; and refusing to give
pregnant women workers seated or lighter work assignments-all in an
effort to force them to resign.

"The Mexican government should not tolerate maquiladora 
development at the expense of women's human rights," according to
Dorothy Q. Thomas, director of the Human Rights Watch Women's Rights 
Project.  "Sex discrimination is prohibited by Mexican and
international human rights law.  We are troubled that U.S. and other
corporations openly practice sex discrimination, and that the Mexican
government allows this discrimination to flourish unchecked."

Pregnancy testing violates Mexican federal labor law, which 
explicitly prohibits distinctions among workers for such reasons as
sex and ensures equality between women and men in the workplace.  It
also violates Mexico's constitution and international labor and human
rights obligations.  Under Convention No. 111 of the International
Labor Office (ilo), Mexico is required to prohibit discrimination
based on gender in employment, including pregnancy-based
discrimination.  Both the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (iccpr) and the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (cedaw) obligate Mexico to prohibit sex
discrimination.  cedaw explicitly prohibits pregnancy-based employment
discrimination and obligates governments to take positive measures not
only to remedy discrimination against women, but to ensure that women
lead lives free from discrimination.   Each of these international
agreements is binding on Mexico.

No Guarantees: Sex Discrimination in Mexico's Maquiladora 
Sector documents that the Mexican government's labor mechanisms
responsible for monitoring compliance with the federal labor code,
advising workers on their rights, and adjudicating labor disputes fail
to provide remedies to women who have yet to be hired, since they only
take on cases of people who already have a labor relationship with the
employer. However, labor officials also fail to condemn consistently
discrimination in those instances where women were already employed. 
Some labor officials saw themselves as being unable to monitor
vigorously maquiladoras for compliance with the federal labor code for
fear of reprimand from higher officials in Mexico City, because the
maquiladoras were seen as an untouchable source of employment and
foreign-income earnings.  As a direct consequence of Mexico's failure
to remedy discrimination, women workers are subjected to routine
invasions of privacy and to violations of their internationally
guaranteed right to control freely and responsibly the number and
spacing of their children without discrimination. 

Human Rights Watch urges the Government of Mexico to:

Uphold international human rights obligations to guarantee 
the right to nondiscrimination,  the right to privacy, and the right
to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of children
without discrimination.

Acknowledge and publicly condemn pregnancy discrimination as 
discrimination based on sex.

Enact federal legislation that explicitly prohibits any 
company, public or private, from requiring that women give proof of
pregnancy status, contraceptive use (or any other information related
to reproductive choice and health) in order to be considered for,
gain, or retain employment.

Amend the rules governing the work of the Office of the 
Inspector of Labor, the Office of the Labor Rights Ombudsman, and the
Conciliation and Arbitration Board so that these offices can
investigate and adjudicate cases of discriminatory non-hiring as well
as disputes involving an established labor relationship.

Investigate vigorously all allegations of sex-based 
discriminatory employment practices and punish those responsible.

Uphold obligations under the North American Free Trade 
Agreement's North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation to promote
elimination of employment discrimination; ensure that its labor laws
are enforced; initiate, in a timely manner, proceedings to seek
appropriate sanctions or remedies for violations of its labor law; and
publicize the content of its labor law regarding nondiscrimination.

Human Rights Watch urges the United States Government to:

Take up the case of pregnancy-based sex discrimination and 
encourage the Mexican government to take immediate steps to combat it,
and 

Encourage the Government of Mexico to meet its obligations 
under the North American Free Trade Agreement's North American
Agreement on Labor Cooperation, including the enforcement of its own
labor law and the elimination of employment discrimination.


Human Rights Watch urges private corporations that own maquiladoras
to:

End the practice of requiring women applicants to provide 
proof of pregnancy status or contraceptive use or information about
sexual habits in order to be considered for or to obtain employment in
the maquiladoras;

End the practice of denying pregnant women applicants work 
by screening them out of the applicant pool;

Explicitly prohibit pregnancy exams for women applicants or 
any other such method that would invade a woman's privacy regarding
her pregnancy status and right to nondiscrimination;

End harassment, intimidation, and forced resignation of 
female employees who become pregnant;


Human Rights Watch urges corporations that use maquiladoras as
subcontractors to:

Require proof that subcontracting factories are being 
operated without discrimination, as a condition for a continuing
contractual relationship; and

Monitor subcontractor plants on an ongoing basis, by, at a 
minimum, requiring periodic, timely certification that plants are
being operated without discrimination; establishing an independent,
impartial group wholly unconnected to the factory to monitor
compliance; and periodically visiting the subcontractor plants to
review the hiring process and solicit information from worker on the
absence of discrimination. 


Copies of this report are available from the Publications Department,
Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104 $8.40
(domestic shipping) and $10.50 (international shipping).  Visa and
MasterCard accepted.

Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project
Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization established in
1978 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally
recognized human rights in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East
and among the signatories of the Helsinki accords.  It is supported by
contributions from private individuals and foundations  worldwide.  It
accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.  The staff
includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Cynthia Brown, program
director; Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director; Barbara Guglielmo,
finance and administration director; Robert Kimzey, publications
director; Jeri Laber, special advisor;  Lotte Leicht, Brussels office
director; Juan Mndez, general counsel; Susan Osnos, communications
director; Jemera Rone, counsel; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations
representative.  Robert L. Bernstein is the chair of the board and
Adrian W. DeWind is vice chair.  Its Women's Rights Project was
established in 1990 to monitor violence against women and gender
discrimination throughout the world.  Dorothy Q. Thomas is the
director; Regan Ralph is the Washington director; LaShawn Jefferson is
the research associate; Robin Levi is the Orville Schell fellow; Sinsi
Hernandez-Cancio is the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow; Binaifer
Nowrojee is the consultant; and Evelyn Miah and Kerry McArthur are the
associates.  Kathleen Peratis is chair of the advisory committee.

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