Mexican Immigrant Gardeners: Entrepreneurs or Exploited Workers?

Abstract

Suburban maintenance gardening is one service sector that has grown in the United States, and in many parts of the country it has become a gendered occupational niche for Mexican immigrant men. What is the social organization of this occupation and to what extent are Mexican immigrant gardeners following in the footsteps of Japanese gardeners, achieving socioeconomic mobility through gardening? Based on interviews conducted with 47 Mexican immigrant maintenance gardeners in Los Angeles, this article examines the occupational structure of this informal sector job, the social context in which it has developed, the mix of informal and formal economic transactions involved, and the strategic challenges that gardeners negotiate. The data show that there is occupational differentiation and mobility within the gardening occupation, and that mobility in the job remains dependent on combining both ethnic entrepreneurship and subjugated service work. Gendered social and human capital, together with financial and legal capital are necessary for occupational mobility. Jardineria, or suburban maintenance gardening, is analogous to the longstanding labor incorporation of female immigrant domestic workers into affluent households, but it is also indicative of a new trend: the proliferation of hybrid forms of entrepreneurship and service work and the incorporation of masculine "dirty work" service jobs into affluent households.

Más allá de la domesticidad. Un análisis de género de los trabajos de los inmigrantes en el sector informal

“…Esto incluyó entrevistas con 23 trabajadoras domésticas y 37 empleadores de trabajadoras domésticas, una encuesta a 153 trabajadoras domésticas y observaciones etnográficas en los sitios públicos y privados. Más recientemente, Ramírez llevó a cabo entrevistas con 47 jardineros mexicanos inmigrantes (Ramírez y Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2009). Estas entrevistas, realizadas en Los Ángeles durante el verano de 2007, incluyeron a jardineros de entre 20 y 63 años de edad.…”

“…Aunque, históricamente, se asociaba con el trabajo de hombres japoneses estadounidenses en ciudades de la costa del Pacífico (Tsuchida, 1984;Tsukashima, 1991;Hirahara, 2000), el mantenimiento de jardines en zonas residenciales hoy en día se ha institucionalizado como un trabajo para hombres inmigrantes de México (Ramírez, 2011;Ramírez y Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2009;Huerta, 2007). Ha habido una proliferación de jardineros durante los últimos decenios.…”

Gendered Migrations and Global Social Reproduction

“…However, there are variations to these patterns based both on countries of origin/destination and on the skills of workers. For instance, there is a range of tasks such as household maintenance, driving and gardening which are dominated by men but are often not included in domestic work and are a part of social reproduction Ramirez and Hondagneu-Sotelo 2009). Moreover, in some countries such as Saudi Arabia the figure for male domestic workers is higher because of restrictions on female mobility.…”

“…Moreover, even within each sector there are differences in how male and female migrants are incorporated into the labour market as we will go on to see (Chapter 5). Some male-dominated sectors of social reproduction provide greater opportunities for entrepreneurship and social mobility than female-dominated sectors (Ramirez and Hondagneu-Sotelo 2009). Finally, skills also influence the extent to which sectors are gender-segregated.…”

‘ Fitting In ’ : Social Cohesion among Skilled Migrant Indian Women and Host Diasporic Communities in South Africa

“…Migrant women dominate in labour markets labelled as 'feminised domains' such as health care, domestic work, prostitution, entertainment and manufacturing (Lutz 2010;Piper 2010). The nature of this work is characterised by low wages, low status, minimal occupational mobility and security with little chance of collective organisation (Ramirez & Hondagneu-Sotelo 2009). By implication, the visibility of women in these sectors and the meaningful use of statistics remain questionable at best.…”