En el Norte la Mujer Manda: Gender, Generation, and Geography in a Mexican Transnational Community

This study explores generational and migration-related changes in gender and marriage in two locations of a transnational community of Mexicans: the sending community in western Mexico and the receiving community in Atlanta. The principal method was life histories, focusing on 13 women in Atlanta and their sisters or sisters-in-law in Mexico; life history informants' mothers and husbands were also interviewed. A generational paradigm shift in marital ideals has occurred, from an ideal of respeto (respect) to one of confianza (trust), characterized by cooperative decision making, heterosociality, a less gendered division of labor in social reproduction, and a new role for marital sexuality. Although women on both sides of the frontera (border) share this companionate ideal, economic opportunities, more privacy, and some legal protection from domestic violence gave women in Atlanta more leverage to push for these companionate marriages.