This public/private split is reinforced by the family. Not only are there the demands of the home with which to contend, but husbands who will not allow their wives to go out of the house, let alone drive. Unless it is to perform the traditional work of women, or to earn money when it is essential to the family's survival, most husbands object to their wives going out. For example, Julie vividly describes her anger at her confinement to the home for years:

Most of the women had to work for the family to survive economically. The gendered structure of work reinforces the public/private split. The work available to women tends to be an extension of their work at home and does not provide them with the opportunity to learn English in the same way that men can. In fact, this is a critical point. The men who learn more English work in situations where they have contact with the English-speaking public. Examples are work in small restaurants and stores, or as gardeners. After working with friends or relatives for a while who help them learn the ropes and the language, men will often manage to get together the relatively small amount of capital it takes to strike out on their own. (In Los Angeles, landscaping is especially popular.)

The range of work options open to women is much more limited. The choices narrow down to domestic or factory work. Unless a domestic worker happens upon a very unusual employer who helps her to learn English, she is confined to the home where she works and often lives in isolation, learning only the few English words that are specific to housework. In the factories, the possibility of learning English is even more remote. There may be some forced interaction with the supervisor, but the language used on the floor - when it is possible to talk - is Spanish. Talk is rare. As Gladys notes, most of the day is spent in contact with a machine: "Also, as they say, something that doesn't help me out at all on my job is the fact that never do I speak. Only sew, sew, sew. I don't have a chance to talk."

If a woman does manage to learn some English, she may be promoted to supervision, which then places her in a very uncomfortable position vis-à-vis her co-workers as she must enforce management policies. After promotion to supervision, Clemintina's boss wanted her to learn more English, but she resisted, feeling her separation from her friends and knowing that, no matter how much English she learned, there was no way for her to use it except to further the interests of management which alienated her even more from the women with whom she worked.

Ghettoization is enshrined by the heavy use of illegal labour - that is, the hiring of people without documents and paying them deplorably low wages. Illegal status means constant fear of deportation. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate this fear in both men and women. With few work options, the responsibility of their children, and vulnerability to sexual abuse, the situation of women without documents is severe.

Many of the women we interviewed had been used by men, sometimes under the guise of love, but often through overt violation. When they told their stories, they told them in hushed confidences. Bacilio does not have shame with which to contend. After telling of his sister's narrow escape from rape by three men, "coyotes," whom she paid to transport her across the border, he candidly adds: "You know, it is a lot of work and difficult for a woman to come up here from Mexico. It's very rare that a woman makes it up here without having been molested."