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Paper by Leslie Salzinger
Presentation by Josy Sable
Bringing Fantasies To Life: Panoptimex
OverviewPanoptimex, a maquila in Ciudad Juarez,
is organized and run solely through gender and sexual objectification.
“Panoptimex owes its success to a set of meaning-imbued labor control practices in which workers are
constituted and incorporated into production primarily as women and
men, and only within that framework, as workers.”
PanoptimexU.S. owned TV assembly plant in
Ciudad Juarez
Highly successful: fast production, high quality levels, all for low cost
Consistently run over budget, but stays open anyway because Panoptimex improves the image of “Electroworld,” the transnational corporation that owns Panoptimex.
EmployeesHighest level: Imported European and
U.S. based managers
Supervisors and middle management: Mexican men
Higher-paid assembly workers: Mexican men
Lower-paid assembly workers: Mexican women
Women in Panoptimex70-75% women in on the shop floor;
men have never worked in the chassis-building section, the “lowest” work.
Average age of women under 20Workers hired based on these
requirements, in this order:FemaleYoungSlim, thin hands, and short nailsNot pregnant, uses birth control, and
childlessOften transported in from rural areas
Women at PanoptimexPaid US$40 weekly—not enough to live
on independently in JuarezPay contingent on perfect attendanceSeniority means nothing and there are
few promotionsSocial workers police behavior and
appearance, and problems are seen as stemming from out of control emotions and inappropriate attitudes
Men in PanoptimexFloor workers:
Emasculated menIgnored by management
Supervisors:Stand directly over the shoulders of women
worksFunction to sexualize women through flirting,
affairs, cajoling/scoldingManagement:
Watch over middle management and women from glass walled offices
Walk to directly speak to women, act to sexualize women in ways shown above
In the FishbowlPanoptimex creates policy which
strictly enforces the “male gaze.”
Entire focus of the maquila is to see and be seen
Everything is visual:Color coded tape on floorsColor coded shirts for workersQuality control graphs above each
workers’ head
ConclusionPanoptimex’s success is based on a
hierarchy of gender
Enjoyable and pleasurable to those who “win” and yet detrimental to both men and women
Shows an extreme of gender in the workplace
Successful not from in the capitalist system, but from a social, gender based system