a mini-picture book on the restructuring of the global economy and its effects on women.
In the 1980s, the science-fiction of previous decades has become real. The 'average citizen' of some societies can now surround her/himself with a multitude of labour-saving and luxury gadgets. As soon as the newest model of compact-disc comes on the market, s/he can throw out last year's hi-fi. When s/he tires of playing computer games s/he can be entertained by the latest movie on a state-of -the-art video-player. Our wildest dreams have been made possible by science...
...and by those thousands of women in free trade zones who work 15 hour days in electronics factories for $8.00 per week, exposed to dangerous chemicals, ruining their eyesight within one year, suffering multiple ailments, sleeping in shifts in company housing, sexually harassed by supervisors, prohibited from union participation, fired as soon as they get too old to be paid as apprentices and then forced to join the sex-tourism industry out of sheer want...
Meanwhile, 'beautiful people' all over the world can deck themselves in the trendiest garments as dictated by the European gods of design and approved by the pundits of the media. Now, mass-produced clothing is cheaply available, and many of us can afford to alter our wardrobes in accordance with every new whim generated by the highly organised fashion industry which employs high-priced, talented, well-trained designers and cutters to do the 'skilled' work of producing the clothes...
...while leaving the tedious, repetitive stitching to their subcontractors who 'put out' piecework to desperate housewives who need a few extra pennies to make ends meet and cannot even think about minimum wages, working conditions, pensions, severance pay, or leave provisions, but must make their young children help them just like in 19th century Europe,...
which, thank goodness, no longer exists. Now, there are standards. For instance, there are certain acceptable conditions which are taken for granted in public places like airports, stations, hospitals, schools. The populations of these countries expect to be comfortable and safe in these places. How are these standards maintained? That's not their business...
It's the business of hundreds of 'invisible women' who clean up the mess after the legitimate public has left. Usually illegal immigrants, they are in the hands of subcontractors who hire them out to the large multinationals who bid for contracts to clean public spaces. The multinationals reap huge benefits from this industry, because they have no labour costs to pay; the subcontractors also reap a bonanza because they are able to pay their unprotected employees wages that are far below the established minimum and have no responsibility for them since they can only exist Behind the Scenes in the Nineteen Eighties.
For the complete text of the essay on which this picture book is based, please write to Isis International, Rome.