Female Workers’ Struggle in the Textile Industry: The Case of the “La Corona” Workers, Puebla, 1900–1910

Abstract

This article analyzes the experience of the female workers of the La Corona factory in Puebla during the first decade of the 20th century, with particular attention to the 1912 strike. The central objective is to demonstrate that the history of Puebla’s women workers cannot be understood in isolation, but rather as part of a global process of female inclusion in the working class. From this perspective, it highlights that women not only participated in factory dynamics but also became decisive agents in the transformation of labor and social relations. The research is framed within social and labor history, using a qualitative and documentary approach. The analysis was based on primary sources located in the National General Archive, specifically within the Labor Department Collection, which made it possible to recover testimonies and records documenting wage demands, labor conflicts, and complaints regarding the inequalities faced by women. Techniques of documentary criticism and triangulation with recent historiographical studies enabled the reconstruction of the context in which the protest emerged and situated female agency within the workers’ struggles of the period. The findings show that, although the La Corona strike did not immediately achieve improvements, it marked a turning point in making women’s demands visible. Female workers, defying employer paternalism and gender expectations, collectively voiced claims about wages, working hours, and workplace mistreatment.