Exploitation in the name of Globalization

We learned in “Sex, Lies, and Advertising” that men control and own most of the forms of media. Since the system of patriarchy gives men the power they use media as a forum to push their ideals and promote patriarchy. Men are doing this and expanding it to Asia and calling it globalization. In “The Curious Feminist” Cynthia Enloe talks about athletic companies who have moved their companies to Asia in order to cut costs on labor. In the capitalist system the only thing that matters is the bottom line which is money. This allows corporations and companies to disregard everything and everyone because at the end of the day they are trying to increase their profit and if that means exploiting people to do so they will. In “The Globetrotting Sneaker” we see that Nike and Reebok moved their companies manufacturing plants to Taiwan and South Korea. They began hiring young women to work in these factories for far less than they would pay American woman workers. While these countries do have a philosophy which tell woman to do their duty and be a “good daughter” and the way to do this is to go work in theses factories. Then when women began to unionize and demand more money in these factories these American sneaker companies began to move to other Asian countries where they can get “cheapened labor”. The price of someone’s labor is not merely cheap because of their standard of living as these countries would lead us to believe but because they want to increase their profit they “cheapen” these women’s labor. Once the companies moved to nearby China and Indonesia the government of these places began to see that if they “if woman can be kept hard at work, low-paid, and unorganized the can serve as a magnet for foreign investors”. This idea keeps women down and allows them to be exploited because it generates money for their country. The government makes them believe that they are doing their “feminine duty”.
In the first ad is from Reebok and it says “Chinese New Year: Year of the Rat”. The ad depicts a rat next to a new Rebook shoe and fireworks in the background. In the United States this advertisement would be seen as promoting diversity and globalization but the problem is that they are marketing to the same countries that they exploit to produce this sneaker. This is an example of how not only does Reebok go to these Asian countries and exploits the women workers but they then create ads marketed to these countries so that they worker now has to become the consumer. As a worker they are not paid enough to purchase the same thing that they are producing. This is almost taunting to these women who work in these factories for ten cents a hour. Some of these women are single mothers and to have their children ask them to buy them a shoe that costs 46 dollars and they made that same shoe and got paid so much less is horrible and really telling to how much their labor is cheapened. There is pressure on the public of China to purchase these shoes. If Reebok only sold to United States that would be better than selling to the countries who manufacture the shoes and asking them to pay the same amount Americans pay for them. The fact that they companies can even do this is unbelievable. If the women create labor unions and strike then the companies may leave and they will lose their job so they don’t have many options. These women are in a double bind. The progression of women in these countries are combated by these American corporations who use patriarchy to make a profit.
The other two ads I found depict women wearing Reebok clothes and shoes. These ads depict women as strong and as “more than just a cover story”. They both use famous actresses to sell the brand. In one ad it’s Scarlett Johansson and in the other one it is Bipasha Basu a Bollywood Actress. Women are seen as strong and beautiful to sell the brand. Scarlett is a Hollywood star and is used to get other women to buy Reebok because she is wearing it also it promotes women are “much more than a cover story” but they can be athletic too. The other ad shows Bipasha kicking a punching bag with the view of India in the background. This shows a women of color as strong and ads to the mystification of globalization. If Rebook depicts women of other ethnic descents it is believed that they are a promoter of strong women and equality for women. Then they move their factories if women form unions or strike in the countries that manufacture the sneakers. The ads make you think that Reebok aligns itself with women but what they actually are doing is exploiting women.
If we realize that injustice for women anywhere is an injustice for women anywhere we can fight to get companies to practice safe labor laws for women. We need to look past this façade that these companies present and see that we cannot have the exploitation of women and call it globalization.