Shoes Shoes and More Shoes

Above is a picture of a pair of shoes and the first thing that comes to mind before I purchase one is “Are they cute?” Then I begin to think how I would feel about wearing these shoes and what could I wear these shoes with. As I flip over the price tag and I believe them to be reasonably priced I purchase them. There’s not much thought that goes into buying a pair of shoes, at least for me. I see, I like, I buy end of story.

I never took the time to recognize the history behind those pair of shoes. In the chapter “The Globetrotting Sneaker” the author makes it a point to discuss the often forgotten history of the sneaker. The chapter discusses how greedy shoe companies are. First, they exploit young children to pressure their mothers into buying their pricy shoes that these families can’t afford. Next, these shoe companies hire women to craft their shoes. Women aren’t treated with fair rights and often shoe companies will try to hand off the responsibility of making sure their workers have fair rights to someone else who will face most of the backlash for neglecting the rights of their female workers. When women tried to stand up for themselves they were raped and abused. Companies built distrust between women making them believe they are competition that needs to be beat. It’s crazy to me how a pair of shoes has so much history most people never think about. It’s a sad reality of what women had to go through just to make a living for themselves.

 

 

In another chapter titled “Daughters and Generals in Politics of the Globalized Sneaker” discusses how companies pressured families into changing the definition of a respectable lady so that they can hire young girls for cheap wages. Women had to now get a job and since there were not many things a woman could be hired for they had to accept the low wages that came from working in factories.

Women often focused on dowries and paying their parents, since they needed help paying for their brother’s education. I find it messed up how a parent would send their child to work in factories with harsh conditions so that they can be deemed respectable. These same women had to continue to achieve this perception of respectable by giving part of their wages to their parents who in turn used it for their brother’s education.

Women need to work together. There’s so much pain and so many tribulations women had to endure to be where we are today. But, that’s not enough. Women are still considered inferior to men and it’s being reflected in society. Even though as women we made progress in the race for gender equality we still have not reached the finish line.

 

 

-Tatiana F.