Main Response to 10/26 Readings

The reading this week from "The Curious Feminism" were really interesting. I didn't really know how bad it was for women in factories oversees. I also didn't know it was mostly women I thought maybe men worked in the factories to. The first reading The Globetrotting Sneaker really shed light on the the sneaker industry and how they are perpetuating this overarching patriarchal system. They first went to South Korea where women's ideals of what true "femininity" is and how to be a good women included the ideals of Confucianism and allowed for them to cheapen there labor. Women in these other countries deserve proper pay and healthy work condition just as we have in America. If we have a standards in America for factories the same standards must be applied and enforced abroad. The thing that really upset and frighten me was that when women began organizing and striking the managers would send in troops who would sexually assault, strip, fondle, and rape the women. I think this is all too much for just organizing because they want to be given a decent amount of pay and better living conditions. The Nike corporation said that "If government were to allow and encourage independent labor organizing, we would be happy to support it". This doesn't hold true because when the women labor movement made some progress and were able to get a pay raise and better jobs that is when Nike began to close down all its factories in South Korea. They say that they support factory regulation and minimum wage but then if this actually happens in there oversees factory they move to a place where women would do the work for cheaper. This is exactly what these companies did at home and why they moved their factories they want to "cheapen" women labor globally. The lies these companies tell as a facade of globalization which really stands for the cheapest female labor we can find. The second reading "Daughters and Generals in the Politics of the Globalized Sneaker" talks about the author herself and how became curious to know more about these footwear corporations and how their competition can trickle down to whoever the sponsor and that makes them rivals. When you think about it the amount of power these companies have is ridiculous. The fact that they can just close down their factories in one place for any reason and open in another place gives them an advantage in controlling the livelihood of many women in other countries. When the factories leave some of these women are forced to take jobs that exploit them and their bodies but they must do this to provide for their families. They use Korean young women as pawns in industrialization and marketed to them. They convinced them to move to the cities and make money for their farmer parents because that's what a "good daughter" does. By using these ideals and changing them to fit the mold of what a young woman is they can make them do the labor for these oversees companies. On one hand women are not completely pawns but they are not completely autonomous in this exploitation. The patriarchal regime of the footwear Corporations and of their own society undermines their resistance and their voice.