Chapter 4: Women in the Daily Grind Between Reproductive Labor and Paid Work in an Urban Poverty Area in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. Culture, Redistribution, and Recognition

This study addresses the situation of women who perform reproductive labor, care for their children and other family members within their household, and simultaneously provide support financially for their families by working as domestic workers in other people's homes. These women belong to one of the most vulnerable groups, affected by the structural violence exacerbated by capitalist systems, living in conditions of poverty and extreme poverty. The research focuses on five women residing in the Piletas settlement in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, one of the city's urban poverty zones. The methodology is qualitative, situated, and hermeneutic, with the aim of recovering these women's experiences related to their daily work. Their discourses are analyzed through the theoretical categories of culture, redistribution, and recognition, to identify the presence or absence of these concepts in their daily tasks. The findings reveal that the women in the study exemplify the need for social redistribution, although they are not fully aware of it due to their impoverished context. Moreover, a lack of recognition is evident, as only two women display a nascent sense of self-recognition related to their self-esteem and formal education. This analysis highlights how poverty and the lack of structural recognition limit their personal and social development.