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QUESTIONS

• What role do women play in the

society?

• What role do women play in

International Politics?
BANANAS
Jobs in banana plantations
are dominated by men.
 Percentage of banana farms ranging from 1-5 acres
that are owned by men and women in Dominica

18% owned by men

owned by women

82%

Source: Enloe
(1989)
The farmer… … and his
wife
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
 Gendered division of
labor which
labor
labor associated
requires physical with wife’s
strength traditional role
Women are hired to do the
least-skilled and lowest-
paid jobs, which involve
weeding and cleaning.
 Prostitution in Banana plantations
are used to recruit and control male
workers.
Wives of banana plantation
workers do small scale
farming to assure these
workers that they will have
 Gendered division of
Productive labor –
labor Reproductive
creates surplus labor – enables
value productive labor
Gendered
Labor and
Migration
Women in First
World countries
start to take on
“men’s job”
 As women enter the
workforce, men still do
not contribute to
housework.
Immigrant nannies and
maids provide for
“care deficit” in First
World countries.
 Poverty

Pushing Forces:

Government
encouragement
Institutionalizati
on of domestic
labor
 Migration
of sex workers
 Feminized labor: from “local” to
“global”
  Banana Industry Migration

Husband Male plantation First World countries

workers
Wife Wives of male Third World countries
plantation workers
Feminized Between male Between First World
labor plantation workers and and Third World
their wives countries