Global 21st Century Women

Global Woman Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild (2002) is a thought-provoking collection of essays describing the lives of third world women, and how the globalization and the changing lifestyles and economies of the first world have changed these women’s lives, families, and communities. Easy to read, this book is not fiction but based in scholarly research conducted primarily through interviews with men and women throughout Asia. These personalized stories include those of women who left their own babies to go abroad to work as nannies or maids for well-to-do families. For most women, this was a way to get ahead and better their own family lives. They worked 14 -16 hours days, enduring indignities imposed on them by their employers, saved as much money as they could to send home, and went without seeing their own children for years at a time. Many women experienced arriving home only to find their husbands had spent all the sent remittances on drink and gambling. The book also chronicles the emotional attachments the nannies formed with their charges, and the tensions this creates between the child’s mother and the nanny. Ultimately, nannies are expendable, and frequently discharged with little notice. Globalization has also created a sex-worker service economy, and the women who work as sex workers are often kidnapped or sold by their families into the slavery of this form of service work. The sex industry has truly become an "industry" specializing in human trafficking across border. Sex-workers have become a tourist attraction, and often the governments in which sex-tourism is most prevalent turn the other way. Besides the first-hand accounts of what many Third World women endure as they become a different kind of global traveler-- that of the expendable nanny, maid, or sex-worker, the book also provides explanations of the cultural phenomena that contribute to having these women become the primary bread-winners for their families. This book reads like fiction, but is totally based on fact! First and foremost, this book should be read by everyone interested in developing knowledge of the state of women acrss the globe. It would also make an interesting supplement for college level courses in women’s studies, globalization, as well as poverty and welfare.