Just Do It!
I will never look at Nike, Reebok, or Adidas in the same way
again. As I was reading Enloe’s article, “Globetrotting Sneaker and Daughters
and Generals”, I was ironically wearing a pair of Nike sneakers, oblivious to
the gloomy history behind their creation. Of course, I was unaware of this
history because Nike tells a story that depicts these themselves as benevolent by
saying that they “began investing in adolescent girls as powerful agents of
change in the developing world. This focus emerged from the company's desire to
support the world's developing countries, recognizing the benefits that both
Nike's business and consumers derive from emerging economies”.[1]
Underneath this mission, however, is an unjust undertone with a dark history. The
ability to which these sneaker companies are able to claim such altruistic
missions which veil the truth is disgusting. It is so sad that these factory women
are devalued and dehumanized by these sneaker companies and oppressive governments
which are able to profit off of this cheapened labor.
In Enloe’s article, “Globetrotting
Sneaker and Daughters and Generals”, she goes on to explain how South Korean
factory women are taken advantage of not only by their own government, but also
by sneaker companies that claim to advocate for “equality”. This is due in part
to globalization which often times negatively effects these underprivileged and
lower-class women in developing countries. This idea is similar the ideas
expressed in Arlie’s article, “Love and Gold”, and how immigrant women (who are
usually of a lower-class and from Third World countries) can be easily taken
advantage of and can be paid less than other women. This pay gap is a
side-effect of globalization and the rise in the gap between the rich and the
poor. Enloe’s factual article makes me question whether or not it is even possible
to diminish or decrease this gap between the rich and the poor, when society is
blind to these wrongdoings. Before reading this article, I was blind to the
actions of these sneaker companies because they are not exposed in the media! I
would have never even known that these women were taken such advantage of had I
not read this article. This just goes to show how as a society we have to do a
better job of showing the truth about globalization and the negative impact it
can have on people in developing countries. The women in developing countries are
able to be taken advantage of because they are more than often malnourished and
are in the lowest class. Sneaker companies take these aspects into
consideration when deciding where to put their factories because they are then
able to cheapen labor depending on how desperately these factory women need the
money.
It is frightening to think that
there is so much going on behind the scenes of infamous sneaker factories such
as Nike, Reebok, and Adidas. In fact, in Enloe’s article, Teong-Lim Nam claims
that troops will sexually assault these women in South Korean factories in
order to “control and suppress women’s engagement in the labor movement”. However,
the Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA), still formed despite threats of
sexual assault. This being said, many of these groups were unable to unionize
out of fear of being fired because at the end of the day they feel pressured to
“maintain being a good daughter” so that they can send money back home to their
families and can one day get married. After reading Enloe’s article, I was
disgusted to find that these sneaker companies would depend on the fact and
look for countries with a strict authoritarian government with women who will
obey their male counterparts. All of this is in order to ensure that these
companies can cheapen labor and are able to do because these companies turn the
women against each other and their neighboring “sisters” by forcing them to
view each other as enemies and competition. If women in these factories gain
autonomy, then the sneakers companies will move to a different country where
the women have not yet been gained their independence. Enloe describes that
this idea of “playing women off against each other” is a historical process,
not political, and is essential to the success of international trade.
Enloe discusses the idea that women in the Philippines and other
underdeveloped countries have to maintain their identity as a “good/ideal
daughter” so that they can one day get married and live up to societal
expectations. This idea reminds me of what we talked about in class with the ultimate goal of a mother
and characteristics of the “ideal mother”. This reminded me of a statement Gloria
Steinem’s made, saying that “A pedestal is as much a prison as any small space”.
Just as mothers are put on a pedestal, so too are Korean women put on this
unrealistic pedestal and help in this prison of duty and expectation. Sneaker
companies levitate towards “women who were focused on their daughterly
responsibilities and on marriage dowries were women who were not likely to
strike for decent pay, for the right to unionize, or for democratic reforms”
(Enloe). These women face unjust pressure to become the “ideal daughter” and to
succumb to male authority without questioning or hesitation. This is also a
prison because they are financially unstable, so that they are unable to
express their desire for autonomy without fear of getting fired. This being
said, in order to stop this cyclical system of oppression, Enloe proposes that
these women have to “reimagine themselves” as becoming somebody other than the “ideal
daughter”. This idea of womanhood as achieving and striving to be docile and obedient
is veiled under the ideology of “patriotism”.
In reading this article, I also
found it outrageous that these factory owners would replace a newly married
woman with an unencumbered woman because this would allow them to cheapen
labor. This goes back to the idea that women are criticized if they do not have
children because then they are not the “ideal woman”, however, they are also
punished for having children because they are then deemed, in the eyes of the
workforce, as incapable. Once women in Korea began seeing themselves as
autonomous, independent women, however, they are punished by this because
sneaker companies then remove their factories and go search for another country
with women who still hold and idolize being the “good daughter”. As one can
see, this is a seemingly endless cycle which can only be dismantled if we
minimize the gap between the rich and the poor and educate each other on the
negative side-effects globalization can have.
- Jane B
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