“It Was Like a Revolution”: Women’s Perceptions of Work–Family Practices at a Mexican Multinational Corporation.

In 1997, a multinational company in northern Mexico replaced a work policy that required women to quit on marriage or pregnancy. Analysis of extensive data from a qualitative case study shows how the women perceive the policy change as shaping work–family choices. The women interpret the change as significant because it recognizes women’s “right to work” and grants them access to family-friendly workplace policies. But their interpretations of how it plays out in practice vary over the gendered life course. Furthermore, evidence of obstacles to women’s advancement indicates that workplace practices remain gendered and vary by occupational status and age. This analysis demonstrates the importance of situating women’s workplace experiences within a particular context with its distinct cultural and sociopolitical framings of work and family. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]