Reyna Ramírez was born en Zoquitlán, in the Sierra Negra in Puebla, and speaks Náhuatl. Like so many women in Mexico, Reyna has worked her whole life in the maquila (assembly plants). Since her teenage years, she and her sisters have worked in a series of garment factories, where violations of their rights were not uncommon.
While she was working for Tarrant, a company owned by Puebla businessman Camel Nacif, there was a movement of both male and female workers protesting the abuses visited on them. Thus, Reyna came into contact for the first time with the Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Laborales del Valle de Tehuacán (Tehuacán Valley Human and Labor Rights Commission).
Thanks to workshops held by the Commission, Reyna began to learn about her rights as a worker. She also discovered her own potential as a leader, and realized that change was indeed possible. Reyna started to take an active part in Commission business, supporting mostly indigenous seamstresses in the defense of their labor rights.
“I found out that the workshops given by the Commission were supported by Semillas, and that they had a web page. I therefore set about learning how to use a computer so that I could meet these fellow-minded companions,” says Reyna.
Her activism on behalf of seamstresses has put Reyna herself at risk. She has received threats, been beaten up and fired from her job. Basically, she has been forced to make drastic changes to her life, but her personal commitment to share her knowledge and experience with other women gives her the strength to go on.
“With Semillas we have seen that we can count on support in our efforts to defend our rights under the Law. The women workers trust us and feel that we at the Commission understand them, because we too know what it’s like to be a woman sitting in front of a sewing-machine, and we understand the disadvantage of being poor.”
“Thanks to this project, we have managed to encourage the seamstresses themselves to take up their own problems instead of relying on a lawyer in a suit. The women workers see we are like them and that we speak the way they speak. This gives them courage, and makes them realize they are not alone.”
The role of women in a mixed organization such as the Tehuacán Valley Human and Labor Rights Commission is becoming greater by the day. “In the struggles and conflicts, the committees have more women members than men. The women are developing more skills, and taking on many more responsibilities,” says Reyna.
