1. Enloe debunks the oppression of Asian women workers in sweatshops and explores their labor movements. Can anti-sweatshop action really liberate women from economic injustice and help achieve women’s rights? Enloe exemplifies women workers in South Korea and further points out more women’s engagement in prostitution and sexual services due to exodus of sneaker-manufacturing jobs. Without specific suggestion, (uneducated and poor) women seem to have no choice except prostitution.
2. In the article “Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers and the International Division of Reproductive Labor,” Parrenas states, “Italy has witnessed an increasing number of married women in the labor force, but a surprising decline among younger single women.” Why do married women in Italy increasingly engage in the labor force? Does economic pressure force them to work? What about single women? I think they also need employment to secure their economic independence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
First off, one quick question I wanted to address in the Enloe reading was the trend of female oppression mechanism that uses religion (for example confucianism in South Korea) to make women feel they are finally contributing to the development of their country or moral character. Does this mean that there is a conflict between education and piety? Does the secularism of 'enlightenment' and democracy nullify socialized religious beliefs in all cases?
ReplyDeleteAlso, when Southern Korean women finally did unite and unionize despite harsh restriction, the MNCs sought other underdeveloped countries to exploit, and these women were reduced to working in erotic massage parlors and bars that "mushroomed" at the relocation of the mobile factories, essentially selling themselves. Yes, they broke free from sweatshop labor, but is this resulting effect worth it?