Women's Autonomy and Social Networks

The lower classes often formed informal unions, which broke when men left to exploit export opportunities in the agricultural frontier. Women left behind fended for themselves in home base, textiles and small shops. In 17 88, female silk spinners in mexico city organized their own guild. After 17 50, gender paygaps widened. Mechanization displaced women's manual spinning. The fall in infant and childhood mortality may have cortailed women's opportunities as it temporarily increased the number of children with kids to bathe, dinners to cook and flors the scrub. Job cues wereon and men were at the front. Firms preferred to hire, train and promote men. Many teen age girls desperately