Global Woman

When I first heard about Global Woman by Barbara Ehrenreich, I was exited. The areas of concern in Global Woman are Nannies, Maids, Domestic Workers, and Sex Workers. These areas of interest were all something I had studied in debth for years. Naturally, I was interested in what another female had to say on the matter. I discovered quickly that this book would only focus on women of color in response to globalization. I was disappointed, but pushed the feeling aside and kept an open mind. The first example we're met with are - shall we call them - nannies of color, aka hispanic nannies in the US. Ehrenreich is disgusted that these women be subjected to low income and seemingly thankless work of caring for Elitist children. She proclaims their inability to read or write in English is being taken advantage of by these Elites. To which I, already frustrated, explaimed out loud, "What kind of jobs did you think they would get?" If you're unable to read, write, or even properly speak the language of the country you entered (she states the majority are indeed here illegally), don't be surprised when you're not making a high income. These women don't have a choice but to work these awful jobs and to expect otherwise is naive. Yes, these Elites do hire them not only because they can't read the contracts they're presented, but also beacuse they can pay them lower wages, don't have to give them healthcare, and if they're a live in nanny - which most are - then they simply use their living situation as an excuse for the low pay. And though the nannies know it's a lie, until they better learn about the USA's laws and regulations, they deal with it out of fear or desperation.

The same goes for maids only to a more extreme level. We learn in this chapter the worst offenders of human rights are not white's, but women in Hong Kong, and Muslim families. Naturally, white Elitists are of course on the list, but only in regards to abuse. The muslim familes are known for confenscating the maids documents and making them slaves in return, as well as rape and abuse. In HK the maids are expected to work up to 16 hour days with every hour accounted for. The maids are lucky if they get a place to sleep that isn't a kithen floor or a broom closet. The employers tell the maids when to shower, what to wear, when to be home, and when to sleep. I started getting upset over the stories these women told. The vast majority had in fact been turned into slaves, and none of their governments could have cared less, especially since a great number of those who owned maids, were in government work themselves, one of which was a Human Rights Leader in the US.

The last half of the book frustrated me. Sex work whether it's in the First World, or 3rd world, I've studied it tirelessly. I am well informed on poor families selling their daughters to brothels, or parents who sign their daughters up to be mail order brides hoping it will give them a better life. All of which is depressing and infuriating simultaneously. The chapter on brothels was done very well by Ehrenreich! She really delved into how the girls are sold by families, kidnapped, and given outrageous figures of debt from their pimps which they could never repay, as well as the medical care they don't receive, the police's stance on it, as well as the actual client numbers and prices broken down. However, when we reach the last topic in this area which is Mail Order Brides, I was completely let down and frustrated. There were unlimited options for this area, and instead Ehrenreich went for the most vanilla and innocent example possible. A man and woman of the same Vietnamese nationality couldn't find partners in their respective countries ( F - Vietname, M - USA), and so agreed to marry each other resulting in the female moving to the US to be with her new husband. I was upset that Ehrenreich not only went this route, but how she only told the story of this couple and this couple only for this area. Even though this book only covered women of color in the areas adressed, Mail Order Brides are a huge market in Asian countries and they almost always end badlly for the female. Promised a life of luxury, the female is often shocked when she discovers upon moving to the US that the man she married is not only broke, but in debt with a dead end job if he has a job at all and can't give her anything he had promised. These men are often much older, usually double the age of the female they marry. The men marry these women bacuse they believe them to be naive, desperate, and appreciative of leaving their countries to be brought to the US as well as submissive like their stereotypes claim they are. A perfect example of this would be the case of Indle King who strangled and killed his Mail Order Bride from the Ukraine and then immediately after married another. When she tried to escape he attacked her. King was sentenced in 2000 is now in prison. Obviously since the bride was white, she wouldn't be inluded in Global Woman, which I also found frustrating, but even still there were hundreds of thousands of stories of women of color Ehrenreich could have chosen that would have better fit the Mail Order Bride issue, instead she chose a couple that was not of the norm and in my opinion a horrible example.

9/10