skip to textskip to text navigation
tutorial logo Part of a wall surrounding a toxic waste site at Metales y Derivados, S.A., warning residents not to use lead contaminated cinder blocks
as building material.
 		Toxic waste site, ©Women's Studies, Smith College

navigation bar graphic




  


WHO ?

You'll see below a Google listing for a site related to the search topic (the condition of women workers in Mexican maquiladoras). An important part of effectively using web resources is evaluating the authority behind the information - the rest of this module will teach you how to determine and evaluate who created a website.

screen capture, Google entry for "The Struggle of Women in Maquiladoras"...and the Maquiladora Health ... occurrence in Mexico's maquiladoras. However, awareness ... of the workers. With organizational help, women have begun ... www.u.arizona.edu/ic/mcbride/ws2000/pohl-hold.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

Sometimes one can find a clue to a website's level of authority by examining its URL. By inspecting the URL suffix you can ascertain what type of institution (.com, .edu, .gov, .org, etc.) created the site.

What type of institution produced this website?
educational
 commercial
 governmental
 organizational

Now look at the site itself:

screen capture, "The Struggle of Women in Maquiladoras" Written by Stacey Pohl (circled in white with an arrow pointing to it). Over the years, women have been key participants in the work force, labor unions, and strikes. Recently, women have taken part in organizing the labor in the maquiladoras in Mexico. The duty-free assembly plants located on the U.S./Mexican border, know as maquiladoras, have threatened and abused the workers and repeatedly ignored the labor laws. Women have begun to take a stand and fights for their rights as well as for their fellow workers. First, it is best to explore the origin and function of the maquiladora in the economy. Mexico's Border Industrialization Program of 1966 first established the maquiladoras. The plants must operate within the framework of Mexican laws, and the Mexican government is free to place restrictions on them. For a U.S. company to be incorporated into Mexico, it must submit detailed information about its products, manufacturing process, expenses, jobs created, and a list of all the necessary equipment. Then the company will receive approval to operate under a maquiladora program and will be issued a permit. Once the maquiladora is operating the company will transport goods for repair or assembly to Mexico duty-free. Once assembled, the products are exported back to the U.S. with a tax added to the value (Martinez). Some of the companies with maquiladora status include Hyundai, Sony, General ...

You can see that the author is named, and if you look at the bottom of the page ...

previous pagenext page


 

 
 


 

This page maintained by the University of Wisconsin System Women's Studies Librarian
430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706 · (608) 263-5754

Please try the tutorial and give us feedback,
or contact the librarian



Copyright © 2002 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.


 

[home] [contemporary women's issues in lexis-nexis] [gender watch] [search engines] [using a metasite]

[WHO?] [WHAT?] [WHEN?] [WHY?] [HOW?]

 
women's studies librarian homepage when? why? how? what?

 

calendar graphic This page last updated on: June 30, 2002. home contemporary women's studies in lexis-nexis Gender Watch evaluating websites using a metasite Evaluating Websites Home quiz evaluation links