Tracing Global Threads Analysis

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As globalization continuous to spread so does culture. As ideas and new techniques are developed its is interesting to see women at the center of it, however, not always in charge. In the reading “Tracing Global Threads” we learn how women are treated and their role in globalization. In the movie “Mardi Gras: Made in China” we see how women are put to work, their way of life and how globalization, a concept that is supposed to help and improve the lives and wealth of people, is exploiting their workers and keeping them trapped in a cycle of poverty. In the reading “Tracing Global Threads we read about how sweatshop made big news in the united states and the mass protests held by various organizations including student, labor, and religious …show more content…
They made sure that workers knew they bad basically no rights and could be easily replaced. It wasn’t like in the United States were the government and local organization would stick up for them. Money controlled the rules and the new companies were making a fortune exploiting the workers. Big companies “undermined unionization and began fostering concessionary bargaining in which employees must give up benefits in order to retain their job. When factories moved they began to do “regime shopping” for “advantages in tax law, incentives and environmental and labor regulation”(Collins 12). They also began to look where they could apply or avoid certain factors that they previously had trouble with in the United States like “skills, turnover levels, and the overall availability of labor and unionization and worker militancy”(Collins 12). Firms thought “gender or ethnic composition” were also important factors. As workers become more experienced and proficient at their job, they are more likely to “exercise their collective power”, however, as shown in the movie “Mardi Gras: Made in China”, that it is not always the …show more content…
The film follows a bead factory in China that makes beads specifically for the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans. In the film, most of the workers were female workers because the boss stated that they are easier to control. Many of the workers work around 17 hours a day and only get 1 day off. They work in dangerous conditions and work on dangerous machines. One young woman stated that you had to be careful with a machine because it would cut your hand up. They workers are expected to work fast and efficiently. In order to make sure works are working up to the standards of the company they have a daily quota they must meet if they want to be paid in full. If they do not meet the daily requirements then they receive a five percent penalty. They can also be fined for talking and not concentrated on their work, if they mess up a product they also will get deducted pay. Pay is already very low with them only getting pay for every necklace they make. There is almost so such thing as a strike here. Women don’t want to form a union or strike in fear they might lose their jobs. The women do say that they stopped working for a couple of hours and asked for a higher pay, which they did get but wasn’t much. When a woman was asked about the conditions of her work she was afraid to