GEN&SEX 50B Chapter Notes - Chapter 20: Protocol Relating To The Status Of Refugees, Michael Wallis, Bartolomé De Las Casas
20 Jun 2018
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Section Twenty: Forced Relocations and Removals
Reading A: Excerpt from the World Labor Market- A History of Migration
(Lydia Potts)
The World Market for Labor Power- Historical Development, Present –Day Structures, and
Developmental Analysis
- Women play an important part in the labor market
Exploited through reproductive and productive process
- World market for labor power divided into two historical phases:
Emergence and development of the world market for labor power under colonialism
Industrialization and subsequent direct incorporation into the world market
Extends into the present day and encompasses import of living labor (i.e. labor
migration and brain drain)
Racism, Sexism, and the Reproduction of Labor Power
- Europe created external and material conditions and racist ideologies necessary to exploit
colonized people
- Economic motives behind various countries’ colonial endeavors were veiled with talk of
educational, religious or some such missions in which the teaching of Africans to work was a
central issue
- Africans were regarded as lazy; Chinese coolies were described as diligent
- World market for labor power operated according to racist principles and those who were at the
bottom of the hierarchy could be exploited at a higher degree
Examples: Caribs were singled out and enslaved without hesitation; placing American
half-castes into hierarchical sequence, the ban on the enslavement of Indians and the
enslavement of Africans
- Reality of colonialism: large numbers of women were recruited as forced labor: as bearers, mine
workers, gatherers, and servants
Slave owning societies of the Caribbean and United states didn’t distinguish between
male and female slaves
- Literature on the subject of labor migration shows a male dominated setting or sexless migrants
Women are shown as dependent migrants
- Women were exploited for their reproductive abilities (i.e. half-castes)
- Every form of forced migrant labor even those directly affecting men, increased the workload of
women in colonized societies
- United States and Caribbean attempted to breed slaves
Women refused to bear children
- European’s desire to gain control over the reproductive capacities of colonized women was
shown in the inducements (i.e. bonuses and privileges offered to mothers, midwives, overseers)
Key Terms
-Coolies: Indentured laborers taken from Asia to work in other parts of the British Empire. A term
first used by British colonial authorities
-Labor power: The value of people’s work that produces profits for capitalists. A Marxist term.
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Document Summary
Reading a: excerpt from the world labor market- a history of migration (lydia potts) The world market for labor power- historical development, present day structures, and. Women play an important part in the labor market. World market for labor power divided into two historical phases: Emergence and development of the world market for labor power under colonialism. Industrialization and subsequent direct incorporation into the world market. Extends into the present day and encompasses import of living labor (i. e. labor migration and brain drain) Racism, sexism, and the reproduction of labor power. Europe created external and material conditions and racist ideologies necessary to exploit colonized people. Economic motives behind various countries" colonial endeavors were veiled with talk of educational, religious or some such missions in which the teaching of africans to work was a central issue. Africans were regarded as lazy; chinese coolies were described as diligent.
