All too often, it is women who bear the heaviest burden of social, cultural, and political acts. In particular, the tourism industry is one in which women are often subordinate to men and other women alike. Such is one of the main focuses of Cynthia Enloe’s wonderful book Bananas, Beaches, and Bases. Enloe attempts to explain this subordination by discussing how views of masculinity and feminimity contribute to it and describing how the economic benefits of tourism exacerbate the situation for women around the globe. She then uses this analysis to also explain how domination of women takes place in the banana industry as well as on military bases.
In great detail, Enloe describes how views of masculinity and femininity contribute to the subordination of women in the tourism industry. She defines the two terms in such a way that they contrast and coincide with each other. Femininity, she says, “has been defined as sticking close to home”, while “masculinity has been the passport for travel” (21). From this point of view, a woman who travels is considered unrespectable, while a man who does is considered successful. However, this view changes when Enloe discusses the status of men and women at world’s fairs. In such cases, she notes, these two terms are able to coincide with one another, so long as they stay within the racial and national boundaries. At world’s fairs, which were designed in the late 1800s to entertain ‘tourists’ and allow for them to become familiar with people of other cultures without leaving their country, American men and women were able to see just how advanced their societies were and just how ‘uncivilized’ others were.
In this act of ‘traveling’ both genders were considered respectable. It caused both men and women to feel privileged to be living in their country. In the case of women, they felt grateful that they didn’t have to do the hard manual labor women in other countries did. With regard to men, they were able to take pride in how they provide financial support and protect women in their country. Enloe then goes on to explain that these world’s fairs gave American women the opportunity to set up venues to show how the women of their country were “leading the world in improving the domestic condition of women” (28). She says that at these exhibitions there was a racial hierarchy, as there were not any black women allowed to be appointed to any influential positions. In Enloe’s view, this along with the fact that American women feel confident when they see just how good their lives are in their country, lowers their standards as to how women should be treated around the world.
Aside from arguing from a cultural standpoint, Enloe makes a compelling case for how economic power contributes to the weaker status of women in the tourism industry, even in countries that have attracted large amounts of tourists. She notes that in the last four decades, tourism has been used by governments to develop its economy, acquire more foreign money, and better the social situation within its country. Of course in countries where tourism has been lively the economy has become enriched as a whole. However, as Enloe points out, this prosperity has by no means reached the women of these countries. In fact, it has done just the opposite. It has caused women to do most of the jobs that were created by the tourist industry for pay that is less than what men would receive. In addition it has forced women in many cases to become prostitutes. For example, in the 1980s 75 percent of workers in the tourism industry in the Caribbean were women. Many of these jobs, mainly in hotels, the government considered low or unskilled work so to justify its paying lower wages for them. In Bangkok where the tourism industry generated $1.5 billion in foreign currency 1986, the rise in the tourism industry has led to a rise in prostitution. This “sex tourism”, as Enloe phrases it, denigrates women to become the sexual servants of men when they are on vacation. She notes that such actions are not being prohibited by the government but are in fact encouraged by it. There had been a ban placed on prostitution in 1960, however, it was undermined in 1966 by the “Entertainment Places Act”, which allowed for, “coffee shops and restaurants to add prostitution to their menus” (35). As a result, as of the 1980s in Bangkok there are “119 massage parlors, 119 barbershop-cum-massage parlors and teahouses, 97 nightclubs, 248 disguised brothels, and 394 disco-restaurants” (35-36). This sexual tourism, which is more profitable for women in terms of money, has also caused women who live in agricultural sections of the country to move to the city to work as prostitutes. If anything positive can come out of this business it is the organization of women’s groups. Since the mid-1980s with the international concern over AIDS, women in Thailand formed groups to inform other women in the sex-tourism industry about AIDS. Two of the major organizations, Empower and Friends of Women, have worked closely with government officials to make brochures which inform the general public about this growing epidemic.
Above all Enloe argues that the current state of women, as a result of the tourism industry, can be attributed to the consequences of power. She eloquently states this position when she writes, “tourism is not just about escaping work and drizzle; it is about power, increasingly internationalized power” (40). In the case of cultural contact, women and men in rich industrialized nations are able to feel more powerful than those in developing countries. This power, Enloe argues, only worsens the situation for women abroad because it causes a hierarchy to exist among them. In the case of economic contact, governments and women become slaves to this international power. Governments in debt need tourism to further develop their economies, for it is a great source of income to do so, while women are taken advantage of by governments and industry by being forced to work for low wages because their work is considered low or unskilled.
Enloe’s detailed analysis of the situation women face in the tourism industry can be applied to the situation of women on military bases and in the banana industry. The views of femininity and masculinity apply in the case of the bases because women’s contributions and status are not considered significant to the men, whether they are married or not (as shown in the case of the wives of diplomats). Similarly, from an economic standpoint, the work women do such as housework and helping with diplomatic relations earns them little to no wages or recognition. In fact, to receive benefits and pay for these jobs it takes organizing and pleading with their governments. In the banana industry these two factors are at work also. Again, men’s work is considered ‘real work’ while women receive little to no pay or benefit for their work. Women are exploited by the industry, as they are used to sell the bananas but do not profit from the ones they help sell. In addition, when the banana companies use women to sell their products, they sexualize them, as shown in the case of United Fruit’s use of Carmen Miranda to sing the ‘Chiquita Banana’ song. All of this and more is discussed in Cynthia Enloe’s eloquent book. Though I have been asked to comment on a few aspects of it, its reach extends far beyond what I’ve discussed. This book is an intellectual tour de force in explaining how understanding of gender in international politics is crucial to our daily lives.
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