Sex and the Global City
Hunter students engage with women's place in a global economy
Mishka Vance
Issue date: 3/11/09 Section: News
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"The overall frame was to investigate how the globalized economy affects women both at the local and global level, and what options women have within this economic re-structuring we generally call 'globalization,'" said Carmeilina Cartei, an adjunct lecturer who helped organize the exhibit.
The colorful display featured arts and crafts that were originally submissions from undergraduate students taking Women and Gender Studies classes.
Cartei said she asked her class to work on a creative project on women in the local and global economy, the focus the Women's Studies department proposed for this year's Women's History Month in March.
The exhibit also featured work from the larger Hunter community, including "Denis, the Brazilian," a young graffiti artist from Brazil who painted a canvas on the theme of women and immigration; and Walter Ditman, a muralist, who helped create cardboard cutouts of sewing machines and military puppets.
The various displays covered many "provocative" topics, one student said. These included sweatshops and labor conditions, sex trafficking, domestic workers, women in business, pay inequities, and glass ceilings.
One poster, for example, asked, "Are we living in a sweatshop economy?" Then, it went on to list many of the problems that remain obstacles for women workers today, almost a century after the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sweatshop that killed many young women in New York City.
Another display featured boxes with plastic tops simulating the "glass ceiling," the invisible barrier to success for women in the work place. The boxes described the glass ceiling as a "social strait jacket" for women as well as minorities.
The information presented in this exhibit prompted many comments and insights from students.
"Women are used as eye candy in movies. A woman's sexuality is exploited. The roles for women haven't moved beyond sexual roles," an Environmental Studies senior, Monique Brown, said upon reviewing what one display had to say about the portrayal of women in film.
One male student said a display on sex trafficking made him upset. "It makes me feel disappointed in humans in general," he said.
Some of the displays, like the Japanese rape camp diorama or the mail order bride catalogue, surprised many students, but most said they were "grateful for the information."
A second segment of event was the Social Change Fair held on Wednesday, March 4, in front of the cafeteria. The Women and Gender Studies department asked various local and non-profit organizations to attend and provide information about the work they do and internship opportunities they offer.
According to Cartei, the idea behind the event was to "provide a glimpse of some of the issues and problems women face as they navigate globalization, and, more recently, the current economic crisis.
"Art can become a teaching and learning tool, and even our hallways can be transformed in learning sites that can potentially activate people," she said.
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