Body Exploitation of the Night Shift Women Workers in the Industrial Zone of Huejotzingo, Puebla

Abstract

The analysis of how the bodies of night shift women workers are exploited reveals a multidimensional problem linked to systems of capitalist and patriarchal oppression. With an approach that considers the double exploitation faced by these women as wage earners and mothers, this qualitative research was based on informal, semi-structured interviews with night workers from the industrial zone of Huejotzingo, Puebla. The results highlight that the exploitation of women workers is manifested in several aspects. As wage earners, their sleep time, eating habits, and health are systematically expropriated, with a direct impact on their physical and emotional well-being. As working mothers, their rest and leisure time is devoted to domestic and care work. The conclusions point out that this double working shift makes the living conditions of night workers more precarious and violates their existence because the sustained exploitation of their labor force exhausts not only their energy but also their physical and emotional well-being, not only by depleting their energy, but also preventing the physical and emotional recovery necessary to maintain their health and quality of life. Therefore, the need to transform the structures that perpetuate these exploitative dynamics is emphasized, considering labor and care policies that promote equity and the integral well-being of these women workers.