The Gender Institute, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England

We explore the construction of feminine identities among women maquila workers in Juárez, Mexico. The findings suggest that women workers' identities are fluid processes in permanent negotiation. Women's changing employment practices, gender roles and relations, and personal experiences have created spaces for new interpretations of courtship and motherhood. As Mexican women increasingly face controversial messages, they reconcile emerging and conventional feminine discourses by recreating images of Mexican womanhood.