The "ficheras" emerged as social figures in urban Mexico during the 20th century, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s, a period when the country was undergoing profound transformations: migration from the countryside to the cities, the growth of working-class neighborhoods, and the rise of a marginal urban culture that coexisted with an official discourse of modernization and progress.

Ficheras worked in cabarets, dance halls, and nightclubs, where they earned a commission for each “ficha” (token) that clients purchased to dance or drink with them. Although their work did not formally involve sex, their image was heavily sexualized by the media and cinema, placing them in a socially ambiguous space between entertainment, sensuality, and stigma.

From a class perspective, ficheras were generally poor women or from working-class backgrounds who faced limited educational and employment opportunities. Entering this nightlife world was often a strategy for economic survival. Within a patriarchal system, these women occupied an ambivalent position: they were exploited and controlled by male-dominated structures (managers, clients, police), but also found ways to exercise agency and autonomy. Through their work, they negotiated power, used their attractiveness as symbolic capital, and managed to support their families or maintain a degree of personal independence.