Running with Patriarchy
Shoes...One of my very favorite things. It seems I have a pair for every outfit yet still I find myself buying more. When I purchase my shoes thoughts race through my mind about what kind of outfit I can wear with them, what occasions can I wear them for, and how great they will look on my feet. On all of these times that I have bought shoes, I have never found myself thinking deeper about their origin. Who made these shoes? What kind of a person are they? What kind of lifestyle to they live? These are the questions I should be asking myself.
Throughout the texts, "The Globetrotting Sneaker," and, "Daughters and Generals in the Politics of the Globalized Sneaker," Enloe discusses how Nike and other similar sneaker companies use woman labor to make shoes cheap and expand the companies profits. They do this, however, through a system of patriarchy. Shoe companies, such as Nike, claim to support women's rights, however they only do so where their profit isn't hurt. They offer women the chance to make meager amounts of income, and in doing this make a substantial amount of money for themselves, as well as increase industrialization, which makes the government happy. But is this deal really fair? The answer is clear that no, none of this is fair.
The women working between the walls of these odious factories are pinned against each other. They are oppressed with harassment, rape and sexual assault, under the grounds of, "A control mechanism for suppressing women's involvement in the labor movement. They are taught to distrust each other because they all want to make money, though still they come to work each day. They stand bravely and take this horrible treatment simply because what else can they do? To fight against greedy companies protected by this dominant patriarchal society with which we live, women must rally together and fight as one.
In unity is strength, which is a common theme I find myself alluding to as I read more of these articles. Just as the women who wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, the colored women who were victims of white supremacy among women at the time of the civil war, working women, and feminists of all ages, races, and genders have united, these female factory workers must do the same. While bravery is strong, is it power that will decide fate, and power is found among those who stand together.
Throughout the texts, "The Globetrotting Sneaker," and, "Daughters and Generals in the Politics of the Globalized Sneaker," Enloe discusses how Nike and other similar sneaker companies use woman labor to make shoes cheap and expand the companies profits. They do this, however, through a system of patriarchy. Shoe companies, such as Nike, claim to support women's rights, however they only do so where their profit isn't hurt. They offer women the chance to make meager amounts of income, and in doing this make a substantial amount of money for themselves, as well as increase industrialization, which makes the government happy. But is this deal really fair? The answer is clear that no, none of this is fair.
The women working between the walls of these odious factories are pinned against each other. They are oppressed with harassment, rape and sexual assault, under the grounds of, "A control mechanism for suppressing women's involvement in the labor movement. They are taught to distrust each other because they all want to make money, though still they come to work each day. They stand bravely and take this horrible treatment simply because what else can they do? To fight against greedy companies protected by this dominant patriarchal society with which we live, women must rally together and fight as one.
In unity is strength, which is a common theme I find myself alluding to as I read more of these articles. Just as the women who wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, the colored women who were victims of white supremacy among women at the time of the civil war, working women, and feminists of all ages, races, and genders have united, these female factory workers must do the same. While bravery is strong, is it power that will decide fate, and power is found among those who stand together.
This is really great insight. Before reading Enloe's texts, I didn't think about who the people behind the shoes were either. I didn't think if they had families, food on the table, or how they were treated in the process of creating these shoes. I think in today's society we take things for granted and do not look deeper into how things were created. This is problem.
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