Work involvement on the flower plantation is an important thing in Zoila's life.

She thinks that this experience is helpful for the future. Due to her age, and this being her

first job, Zoila feels that she has learned a lot of useful things at the flower plantation.

Among these useful things she mentions understanding and following some regulations

to conduct her work, and coordinating her work with other people toward a common

goal. Zoila seemed puzzled when I asked her about future plans. She hesitated to

respond. Then, she said that she would like to keep working on a flower plantation as

long as possible.

 As will be discussed later, the different social circumstances in which the three

types of women I interviewed are immersed generate different social outcomes. Age and

marital status are among the main definers of satisfaction as a result of work experience.

Of course, beyond these personal situations there could be other definers of the self-

perceptions regarding working experience.

 Despite the different social circumstances and outcomes, the three types of women

I have interviewed share some similarities in self-perception and work experience. The

most notable aspects in which these women are similar are in wage management. All the

interviewed women manage their salary for themselves. In the case of married women, it

is unconsciously assumed that the money they earn corresponds to their realm in the

household (reproductive activities like providing food, medicines, etc.). This aspect is

more or less common among the Ecuadorian women flower workers24 and could

correspond with the traditional gender relations and roles of women in household. In



24 In a study on women flower workers carried out in 1993 it was recorded that more than 80% of women
working in the Ecuadorian flower industry managed their own wages (CEPLAES 1993, cited in Dolan and
Sorby 2003)