This paper represents a collective contribution to an ongoing debate on the benefits and disadvantages of  export-based industry jobs  for women as well as on the implications  of  global labor standards for these type of jobs. On the basis of extensive research on women in Mexico’s and Central America’s maquiladoras, this paper aims to problematize the viewpoints that present  export-based industry jobs as dignified alternatives for women in the South and to question the  scepticism around  global labor standards as a possible alternative for improving work conditions in all sectors producing for export. In so doing, the paper stresses three interrelated issues: a) the relevance of local and regional contexts that inform diverse industrialization paths over time, b) the agency the women workers represent and c) the legal instruments already existent in our common strive for solutions towards the aim of dignified jobs.