Monday, November 22, 2010
Response 11/22
I found Enloe's chapter, "Who Do You Take Seriously" very interesting. One thing that stuck out to me was when she said that since the start of the industrial revolution, male factory owners have tried to "presuade parents and local notables that a woman--especially a young, unmarried woman, working in a factory--would be able to retain her respectability so that she would neither bring dishonor to her family nor jeopardize her chances for future marriage" (Enloe 77). On reading this statement I immediately thought of the reading we did on the sneaker industry, its foreign sweat shops, and how young, unmarried women were encouraged and essentially brainwashed into viewing themselves as patriots, migrating "from their small towns to cities in order to participate in the industrialization of their nation" (60), as well as to view themselves as "daughters" and "potential fiancees," needing the money to send home to their families and win over men with large dowries. In this way, as Enloe claims, industrialists ultilized "young single women for their own institutional purposes" (Enloe 77).
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I also thought of the readings on the foreign sweatshops when reading Enloe's article. I find it really interesting how the United States tries to act like they treat their workers better, but in fact their previous treatment of workers set the precedent for working conditions around the world, with factories like Loew. Also it's funny how it is promoted in both situations that women are better off working in the factory and that they are doing their families a great honor by working there. In reality it just seems like factory owners are taking advantage of young women's lack of worldly experience and insecurities.
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