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