Main Post: Mar/22nd

When I first started reading Cyntha Enloe’s chapter “The Globetrotting Sneaker” in The Curious Feminist, I became very uncomfortable knowing how women were treated that worked for U.S companies such as Nike or Reebok in foreign countries. At first I thought, why is the United States getting people from foreign countries to make their products when they would easily be able to find people here to fulfill these jobs. It then hit me and I laughed to how obvious the answer is. One motive that all companies thrive for.. Profit! These companies must be geniuses. Why give these jobs of manufacturing the products to employees in the U.S when you can pay cheap labour to women in foreign countries where minimum wage ranges from 10 cents an hour to 2 dollars per hour.

In this chapter Enloe shows a statistic that in 1991 a survey done by the International Labor Organization found that 88 percent of women working in Jakarta on minimum wage (which is slightly less than a dollar a day) were malnourished. This of course makes perfect sense because living on a salary where you get paid a dollar per day, and let’s say you work 5 or 6 days a week that comes to a total of 6 dollars per week. These women are struggling to survive because they cannot afford basic necessities. What if they are single parents who have children to feed? The children`s needs come first and that jeopardizes ones own health. After looking at the chart on page 54, it again becomes obvious why companies use women in foreign countries to make their products. Look how much money these companies are saving when they pay workers in china 10-14 cents or the highest South Koreans $2.02-2.27 compared to American workers $7.38-7.94. I was very disgusted when I read that government riot police came into the factories and as a control mechanism for suppressing women`s engagement in the labour movement, they began to strip, fondle, and rape these workers. Not only are these women placed in unbearable working conditions, their own autonomy and rights are being taken away.

In the chapter called “Safe Keepers and Wage Earners” by Anuradha Shyam, I found it interesting how she complained about her work load and how she was amazed women who are able to balance their corporate and personal lives and still manage to find the time for their children. What was interesting was that she recently got promoted to senior associate. When you get promoted to a higher position of course your work load is going to be increased and your time spent working may also be increased. Thus, it is only natural that time spent doing other things is reduced. I feel that the women that are able to balance their corporate and personal lives are those women who have been in the same position for years and have been able to create a routine. This woman may be struggling to find that balance because she is unfamiliar with the demands that her new position requires and once she becomes comfortable with her new job she will be able to also find that balance.