Now you might ask, what aspects do you speak of? Allow me to introduce a few statistics to set the tone of how material culture has drastically changed within the United States, specifically within the fashion industry. An article on KQUED News titled "Why America Stopped Making it's Own Clothes", stated that in 1960, about 95 % of clothing was made in the United States. Today, only about 2% of clothing is made right here in the U.S. In a time -span of just 50 years, the fashion industry has dramatically changed the ways in which textiles are procured. Take a corporation like the GAP for example, in 1980, about 70% of GAP clothing was made domestically in the United States. I'n 2003, the company was ordering clothes from more than 1,200 different factories in 42 countries (KQUED News. com). How does this correlate to economic globalization? In does in a sense that major corporations from the west have the ability to procreate a labor force in foreign countries, while making geopolitical decisions imposed on these exploited workers from millions of miles away. And it is becoming a major problem.
An article on Business Insider.com mentioned that if Wall-Mart were a country, it's revenues would make it on par with the GDP of the 25th largest economy in the world, thus surpassing 157 smaller countries. Walmart is not only homogenizing the culture of the world, but it's monopolizing the global economy itself drastically. When one single company can attain a higher overall amount of wealth than a single country, many inequitable issues perpetuate and ensue detrimental harm across the word socially, economically, and politically.
In our textbook, Globalization; The Transformation of Social Worlds, an author in the name of Fred Goldstein stated that when Walmart moves into an area, it puts unionized supermarkets out of business. This is problematic due to the fact it's tearing apart local economies and destroying small businesses. Goldstein also stated that Walmart drives prices down by driving wages down. Is "Saving Money" and "Living Better" what's really happening? And to what cost? Goldstein mentions in his article that Walmart has such a dominance in some industries that it can play a major role in establishing sweatshops wages that affect entire countries or regions. At the end of the day, after reading through information like this, it's vital that we spread awareness of companies like Walmart and really delve into how we can figure out ways to endorse and invest in corporations that are more for the people, and aren't driven by elitism and filled with corruption.
Now that we've discussed economic globalization, I'd like to take this time to introduce a new topic, The Restructuring of Social Arrangements; Gender, Families, and Relationships, and venture into how this rapidly interchanging element of society has been shaped from the monumental influence of globalization. In lecture, we opened up conversation on particular challenges and dangers faced by female identified individuals across the globe. As a result of conversing on this particular issue, I took interest into doing some research into current dynamics of gender inequality.
An article on Globalcitizen.org stated that there are approximately 781 million illiterate adults worldwide, and two-thirds of them are women. In addition, the article mentioned that there are currently 63 million girls out of school. This is a major issue expanding transnationally and it breaks my heart to see that across the world, women are excluded in having access to education. There is a quote by Fredrick Douglas that states "there can be no freedom without education". And I feel like this quote relates a lot to gender inequality, specifically access to education, because when women are denied the ability to go to school, to learn, and grow, they are denied the ability to follow their dreams and become whatever and whoever they want to be.
In our reading's, one of the articles that resonated with me was the piece titled; The World Gender Order. The author, R.W Connell, used the idea of masculinity to shed light on how society enforces norms on what "manhood" is. One of the powerful statements Connel made claimed that the process of Globalization influences configurations of gender. When thinking about this on a grand scale, as our world is becoming more interconnected, ideas on gender expectations/norms are becoming universally known across a broad variety of cultures. However, it is important to note that it is seen to a great extent, through a western and eurocentric lens. Applying gender norms in the American context to countries like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia who discriminate and offer little social mobility for women explicitly, would be an incohesive way to look at the situation. Western ideas on women rights issues differ completely from geological regions on the other side of the globe. Nevertheless, despite these differences in culture/location, it is vital that universally, we as a global community strive to enact a dramatic change in our global society for empowering women, because it's what is morally and ethically right.
Finalizing our journey through exploring contemporary gender dynamics across the world, I want to take this opportunity to introduce current womens right issues pertinent to the country of Saudi Arabia. After doing some research through CNN, I found that in the Socio-Polotical era currently in Saudi Arabia, Women are denied the ability to do the following...
- Marry, divorce, travel, get a job.
- Mix freely with the opposite sex.
-Appear in Public without wearing a full-length black abaya-
- Conduct certain business without a male sponsor
- Apply for a national identification card
These are just a few of the unjust inequalities that linger in certain places around the world, but quiet enough to go noticed by many. Before researching this, I was unaware of these dynamics existent in Saudi Arabia, and I think that it's a problem that when living in a first world country, many like myself tend to live in a bubble where we can fall blind to these unjust entities spiraling through our global society. Awareness is a major first step in enacting positive change and in issues like women rights, it's time that we step up and take action in helping women across the world who aren't able to go to school, and face the many other insurmountable obstacles that force them at a disadvantage each and every day.
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