In late nineteenth-century Mexico, a woman's presence in the home was a marker of middle-class identity. As economic conditions declined during the Mexican Revolution and jobs traditionally held by women disappeared, however, a growing number of women began to look for new opportunities to support themselves and their families. As these "angels of the home" began to take office jobs, middle-class identity became more porous to allow women to step into new roles outside of the domestic sphere. From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950 by Susie S. Porter explores how office workers shaped middle-class identities in Mexico by examining the material conditions of women's work and analyzing public debates over their employment. At the heart of the women's movement was a labor movement led by secretaries and office workers. Women mobilized with pen, petition, and in the streets, as well as in organizations both independent and tied to the State, to forge new ways of thinking about women's rights in Mexico. Their demands were rooted in work experiences and included respect for seniority, equal pay for equal work, and resources to support working mothers, both married and unmarried.

Office workers also developed a critique of gender inequality and sexual exploitation both within and outside of the work place. Porter argues that the women's movement continued to be vibrant in the 1940s, despite increased government control over popular mobilization. Women instead worked inside party politics and unions to make gains for which they had fought for decades. From Angel to Office Worker is a major contribution to modern Mexican history, as historians begin to ask new questions about the relationship between labor, politics, and the cultural and public sphere.