Response to 10/26 Readings

After reading Enloe's two chapters on third-world female labor, I agree with all of what Maria said about how the companies' slogans seem very hypocritical to me. At one point in the reading, Enloe pointed out the Reebok gave out humanitarian awards every year but did not even have their own human rights protection system in place. I have actually read about Nike's horrible treatment of their factory workers in 3rd world countries; however i never really thought about how they rely on the societies' social structures to require women to move to the cities and work prior to marriage. I had always just assumed that the workers in the factories were those who coudn't find a job anywhere else and the fact that many of them were female was simply attributed to the fact that women had a harder time finding work elsewhere. The fact that the companies organizing dating mixers to introduce the women to eligible men to marry really mad me mad. Companies like Nike and Reebok rely on the expectation that women in these countries like China and Thailand fulfill their duties as daughters and go to earn some money for their families. Living in America, we don't usually think about the fact that in other countries it is expected that girls go and work in order to help their family pay for their BROTHERS' education while the females remain uneducated and overworked. I found an interesting website that provides "facts" (I'm not sure how accurate they are) regarding Nike's treatment of its factory workers. A few of these facts include accusations that an Indonesian Nike factory worker claims he has to work over 40 hours a week OVERTIME in order to not starve. Also, the website claims that we pay over $100 for a pair of shoes that costs $5. Although some of these statistics could possibly be slightly exaggerated, the general point is clear. Nike mistreats its factory workers to an extremely unhealthy extent and yet nothing is done about it because as Enloe points out, Nike will just move to the country next door if the government or people try to fight the system too much. Interestingly enough, however, Nike's own website clearly lists out how they work hard to constantly improve the conditions of their factories. Companies like Nike and Reebok might try to publicize their attempts at improving their factory conditions in order to improve their public image but drastic steps need to be taken in order to put an end to the mis-treatment of factory workers in all industries in 3rd world countries.