This summer, I had the sincere pleasure of taking one of the most challenging classes I had ever enrolled in. I don’t know why I even signed up. It wasn’t a requirement. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment but, International Political Economy sounded like a swell subject. I’m a nerd at heart. I love the McLaughlin Group on PBS as well as all their other news shows. I was raised around hot-tempered politically-minded folk and I can debate my way through any point of view.

Well, this was an online course. We were told to read a book each week and write a lengthy paper supporting our own thesis which either agreed or disagreed with a certain point of view held by the author. We also had to participate in heated discussions online. The professor was, for the most part, absent yet very harsh in his criticisms when he managed to be back from some economic journey to Russia. I got an A and I learned more than I ever have in one class, other than Physiological Psych.

These were my favorite books out of the class and I recommend anyone interested in the fashion industry to read these to have a broader idea of what is going on in the world and how manufacturing effects all of us, since clothing manufacturing is one the first things an impoverished nation resorts to when it’s pulling itself up.

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

The Bottom Billion

In Defense of Globalization

The Challenge of Global Capitalism

Markets and States in Tropical Africa

The focus of the class was globalization. Is it a good or a bad thing and how can both sides of the debate be satisfied? Sweatshop work and the textile industry was a huge focus of all the authors I read.

Recently, the blog, The Coveted, brought up the important topic (and had a huge debate in the comments) about cheap clothing and the supposed detriments to society because of it. I, of course, had to put my 5 cents in because nothing bothers me more than wrong assumptions and misinformation. I was questioned as to why I thought the used clothing markets of Africa are a good thing so I had to elaborate a bit further (I can get really long-winded on things I’m passionate about).

So, there you go. That’s where I stand on that issue. I probably would’ve jumped on the “exploitation” band wagon too had I not read a damn book about t-shirts. It’s so easy to play the bleeding heart these days and instantly demonize everyone else who doesn’t but we all need to take a deep breath sometimes, before we go off half-cocked on a sensitive subject – especially a subject that involves people on the other side of the globe that we have no way of relating to whatsoever.

This leads me to the rest of what I want to say here. Not everyone wants to be like us. Not everyone has the same priorities as we do. Not everyone wants our interference. No one wants our damn pity. Everyone wants to get out of extreme poverty with dignity.

Sweatshops. Oh yeah. Let’s go there.

I will say that human rights organizations are a HUGE part in the fair treatment of what is usually an unskilled rural, docile, female workforce. When a country first decides to get industrialized (which is the first step in getting out of extreme poverty), it is primarily women from farms who move to the industrial zones to work. Textiles/clothing are usually the first things to get manufactured in these struggling countries and the women definitely work incredibly long hours in poor conditions. These conditions get better over time. The women gain experience. They ban together. They demand more for themselves and through their experience can look for better jobs when they become available. These women would rather work for 18 hours in a factory where they can make their own decisions, can spend their own money how they see fit, are away from their oppressive patriarchal farming families where their fathers want to tell them who they have to marry… and they still make 10 times more than their fathers do with less back-breaking work.

After these newly industrialized countries gather an experienced workforce, more advanced markets come in, like electronics and whatnot, which require more skill. These women (and men) go to night school, choose thier own partners, begin to work less hours, get promotions, make lives for themselves… and we pay less for a product.

So do you want to buy nothing but American? Well, then, do you want to have millions of people starving all over South Asia, Eastern Europe and South America? These people are relying on us to buy their products so that they have jobs to take care of their families. We rely on them to make things for less money so that we can save enough money to take care of our families. $5 here and $5 there are two entirely different things but we’re all just trying to survive.

I would also recommend you watch Frontline’s special China in the Red. It will explain so so much.

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