The Globetrotting Sneaker
Aside from opening my eyes to the injustice that these Asian women face in order to make a living, this chapter made me appreciate the fact that women like me in the United States generally have so much more of a choice in their life compared to those women in Asia. It seems like many of them are working in these factories because it’s one of the only ways that they can make money to support themselves and their families. And these jobs are not even good enough to do that but there is no better option available to them. When I put myself in the place of a girl my age but living in poverty in Indonesian, I realize how hard it must be to get up and go to such a miserable job every day; I’m sure none of them ever dreamed of working on a sneaker factory or consider it a fulfilling career. It makes me feel guilty that I complain about getting up to go to class in the morning. Obviously I’m in a much better situation so I shouldn’t take that for granted. I also have basically an unlimited choice of what I want to do as a career, where I want to work, and I don’t have to support my parents or children at this point. I feel like everything about my life situation is the opposite of most of the women described in this chapter.
I never realized that Confucian philosophy worked against these women through the belief that that “a woman’s morality [is judged by] her willingness to work hard for her family’s well-being and to acquiesce to her father’s and husband’s dictates” (46). It’s a tough issue because if we were to ask those women to reject that notion, then we are telling them to reject their religion, something important to who they each are as individuals. However, most of these women probably grew up in a family that taught Confucianism and never thought of challenging their religion and thinking about what they truly believe.
Safe Keepers and Wage Earners
I see that Shyam is writing about her own personal experiences and giving us her perspective on how South Asian women in America are expected to have full-time demanding jobs as well as maintain their homes and take care of their families. However, I don’t think that this is as issue faced only by South Asian women. I think it is present in women of all cultures in America today. My mother worked until I was seven when my family moved for my dad’s job. Today I can see that even though my mom doesn’t work at a paying job, she still has a lot of responsibilities. I also feel like I am getting this great education and I want to have a successful career, but I also want to have a family and I don’t want to/might not be able to rely on help from other people. Shyam seems to claim that what makes life even more demanding on South Asian women is that they are expected to pass on religion and tradition to their children. Maybe this requires more effort and active work for her, but I see that women of all cultures, as well as men, actively pass on traditions and religion to their children.
In the second half of her chapter she talks about how women in corporate jobs are stereotyped and many leave work or opt for less-demanding positions in order to fulfill family responsibilities. I totally see what she means. My dad works at a company similar to the one she describes and from what I hear from my dad, there are far fewer female partners in his firm than men. I also think that men might feel more comfortable working with other men because they think similarly and have more in common. So a man choosing between a man or a woman for promotion may unconsciously (or consciously) choose the man because he feels more comfortable working with him. He may also suspect that a man is in the job for the long-haul and therefore favor the man over the woman who might possibly leave the firm within a few years to spend more time taking care of her children.
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