Anthropometry of female maquiladora workers

Abstract

This paper presents 12 body dimensions of female workers of the maquiladora industry along the border of Mexico and the United States (US). These data are compared with anthropometric characteristics of Mexican-American females and females in Colombia, Japan, Korea, and the US. The results indicate that anthropometric characteristics for female maquiladora workers were significantly different from those of the Mexican-American females. On the average, the maquiladora females were 47 mm shorter in stature than Mexican-American females. The maquiladora females also had smaller biacromial breadth, by 18 mm, and wider bitrochanter breadth, by 25 mm, than the Mexican-American females. The results also show that maquiladora females and Japanese females shared similar anthropometric characteristics.