Women in Mexico's illicit economy: expendable as pennies or breaking barriers?

This thesis will examine how women’s roles vary throughout the economic, social, and governmental domination and influence of Mexico at the hands of the narcotrafficking organizations. The chapters of this thesis are organized thematically and will analyze the hyper militarized actions of illicit organizations and government entities while also utilizing previously established female scholars’ interpretations of womanhood, identity, autonomy, and space to pinpoint that women are, in fact, taking on a large, or more prominent role, within narcotrafficking organizations. Although women are stepping into dangerous roles, they are pawns, barriers, or cushions for elite or higher members of the narco-society. This thesis will shed light on how women and children have adapted to life in a narco-driven society but as a result of the continuation of misogyny and the prolonged absence of equity in major areas of Mexican life. My intention with this thesis is to bring Women and Gender Studies to the field of Modern Latin America. Although there are ample scholars who discuss womanhood in Mexico, there remains little historical analysis focusing on women, womanhood, agency, and the possibility of women breaking free from the rapacious illicit and licit spheres of life and living the complicated role of present-day women. I use scholarship from various fields (historical, sociological, anthropological, literature, political, and legal) to showcase how women have and remain susceptible to manipulation and exploitation in Mexican society, especially that of the narcotrafficking-world. In addition to the multitude of secondary literature, this thesis will present primary sources detailing the growing number of young girls and teenagers who entangled in the narco-world, introducing a perspective of allure and opportunity to the complex lives of women. My thesis argues that women are, in fact, breaking economic gendered barriers but are still often falling victim to the toxic masculine tendencies of a patriarchal society, and therefore, creating a new and complex role for women in modern-day Mexico and Latin America.

Grantor

Jackson College of Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Perez, Lydia A.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Churchill, Lindsey Blake

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Loughlin, Patricia
• Lacher, Katrina

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author, who has granted UCO Chambers Library the non-exclusive right to share this material in its online repositories. Contact UCO Chambers Library's Digital Initiatives Working Group at diwg@uco.edu for the permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of this material.

Dc Identifier Other

(AlmaMMSId)9982871709502196

OAI record oai:identifier

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