Susie S. Porter, "From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950" (U Nebraska Press, 2018)
On this episode I spoke to Dr. Susie Porter, Professor in History and in Gender Studies at the University of Utah. She is the author\xa0Working Women in Mexico City: Public Discourses and Material Conditions, 1879-1931\xa0published in 2003, and in today's podcast we will be talking about her more recent book\xa0From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890\u20131950, which is part of The Mexican Experience Series of the University of Nebraska Press.\nIn late nineteenth-century Mexico a woman\u2019s presence in the home was a marker of middle-class identity. However, as economic conditions declined during the Mexican Revolution and jobs traditionally held by women disappeared, a growing number of women began to look for work outside the domestic sphere. As these \u201cangels of the home\u201d began to take office jobs, middle-class identity became more porous.\nTo understand how office workers shaped middle-class identities in Mexico,\xa0From Angel to Office Worker\xa0examines the material conditions of women\u2019s work and analyzes how women themselves reconfigured public debates over their employment. At the heart of the women\u2019s movement was a labor movement led by secretaries and office workers whose demands included respect for seniority, equal pay for equal work, and resources to support working mothers, both married and unmarried. Office workers also developed a critique of gender inequality and sexual exploitation both within and outside the workplace.\xa0From Angel to Office Worker\xa0is a major contribution to modern Mexican history as historians begin to ask new questions about the relationships between labor, politics, and the cultural and public spheres.\nYour host,\xa0Paula De La Cruz-Fernandez\xa0is a consultant, historian, and digital editor. Editor\xa0New Books Network en espa\xf1ol.\xa0Edita\xa0CEO.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies