Office Flowers

In Japan, a viable and popular career for women is an "office flower" or "office lady". "Women serve a mere ornamental role in the labor force as "office flowers" (Harvard Women's Law Journal) and have no significant job in the office and are there to brighten the atmosphere, in a sense. These women take these jobs as "office flowers" and work until they marry and then they would settle down and raise thier family. 

I found this really interesting because not only does it set gender roles but it is also implies a male superiority that we as Americans are thought to have been destroyed in America. It also draws jarring parallels to the way the American office dynamic works. In one of the arguably greatest American novels "The Great Gatsby" there is repeated images connecting women with flowers and brightness or gold, like in the following quote: 

"Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth" (9)

In this quote the narrator, Nick Carraway,  says that her (Daisy Buchanan) is filled with "bright things", he doesn't attribute any deeper qualities to her character other than being "bright". According to the College Times "Four in ten businesses worldwide have no women in senior management" and in America, "Women earn less than men in 99% of all occupations". We believe that in America women have equal treatment and rights however statistically that is not true. We look at the Japanese "office flowers" and we are appalled but isn't that similar to the career paths most women in America have? 

How do you this the American office dynamic is different? Do you think the majority of women in America follow the same career path as the "office flowers"?

"White Noise" and Undocumented Workers

In class we recently wrapped up a book titled "White Noise" written by Don DeLillo. I've also been working on my junior theme which is about why American agriculture is so reliant on undocumented workers. After drowning in research and writing I began to see similarities between Babette, the main character's wife, and the current situation in America.

In "White Noise", Babette struggles with regimenting her own life style and she would constantly buy healthy foods and then through them out because she didn't want to eat them. Babette brings healthy foods into her home because she feels that she needs them. But then when there becomes an excess of these healthy foods she feels she no longer needs them and tries to get rid of them all but then realizes she still wants the healthy foods and repeats the cycle again.

This cycle of Babette is similar to America's attitude toward undocumented workers. In the 1940's America created the Bracero Program which encouraged Mexican workers to work for American employers. However the program ended in 1964 because of the "excess" of illegal immigrants. (PBS) America has welcomed and shut out immigrants in cycles and today we are shutting out immigrants. However Americans are discovering that we are dependent on illegal immigrants and shutting them out would cripple our agriculture industry, much like how Babette completely shutting out the healthy foods would cripple her self confidence.

Both America and Babette are not coming to terms with the realities of what they can achieve at the moment. Babette is not accepting that she does not incorporate healthy foodss. America is not accepting that it's domestic food production is reliant on undocumented workers.

Happy Farms?

In recent years the movie "Food Inc." exposed where much of American meat came from. It showed the public where our chicken, beef, and pork came from and it was appalling. The sunny idea of "farm raised" animals was shattered by the cold, hard facts presented in "Food Inc.". The free range chicken and the farm raised beef that we buy in the supermarket often did not live the same life that the "free range" and "farm raised" animals we picture.

Our perception on where our meat comes from was just as distorted as our perception on where our fruits and vegetables come from. American growers are now "painfully aware that there are not enough U.S. born citizens and legal immigrants to do all the labor intensive work they require" (Wall Street Journal) and this is the reason for the 60 to 70 percent of illegal immigrants supporting our agriculture industry. A shocking percentage, given the public support for crack down on illegal immigrants.

Most people do not know where their produce comes from and in my opinion it is because of story book that later turn into interactive games such as "Farmville" and "Happy Farm". Both games paint a picture of a happy farm with happy animals and in both games there are no workers featured harvesting fields. I find the fact the people still want to believe America is made up of millions of little farmers with little farms that safely and humanely supply our meat and produce so interesting. It is not true yet people still want to believe that games like this and labels that say "farm raised" or "free range" are an indication of our farming industry.

Why do you think people feel more comfortable believing that our farming industry looks like "Farmville" or "Happy Farm"? 

"We can do it!" vs. Bracero Program

The very popular propaganda poster
used during WWII to encourage women
to join the workforce.

I recently selected my topic for a Junior Theme, a research project addressing current social issues within American society. I chose to research on illegal immigration and how it affects the American agricultural industry. My research was based off of the book, "Inside the State: The Bracero Program, Immigration, and the I.N.S. (After the Law)" by Kitty Calavita. This book explored interesting theories on why the use of Mexican illegal immigrants in the food industry began. 

“The following year, with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II, the official attitude towards Mexican contract labor changed abruptly” (19)

One of these theories that Calavita provided was that Bracero Program, an agricultural guest worker program for Mexican citizens, was created to fill the labor gap that was left from WWII. I found this very interesting and it reminded me of the Geraldine Doyle "We can do it!" posters. It was interesting that both events helped fill the labor gap and that both events drastically changed the face of the American work force, however only one is heavily publicized and taught in schools.

Before beginning this research project I didn't have the slightest the idea about what the Bracero Program was and I barely knew anything about the ongoing illegal immigration debate in our country. I knew plenty about the women that filled the labor gap during WWII. The information that the textbook and our society likes to include says a lot about our ideas about different topics. For example, by barely acknowledging the role Mexican immigration has had on our food industry we are trying to hide that ugly picture and still credit American farmers for work that is mainly done by Mexican immigrants. It is rather ironic that many Americans feel so opposed to illegal immigrants and Mexican immigration as a whole when most do not know of the impact that they have on our food industry and our everyday lives. 

Why do you think that the topic of Mexican immigration and the Bracero Program is so rarely taught or talked about in schools?