Week 10 Blog Post

In “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche, Steven McKay discusses how the Sea Men occupation plays a role in how labor diasporas shape and are shaped by race, class, gender, and history. He uses this example of the Sea Men occupation to explain how Filipinoness and masculinity are associated with this type of manual labor and how this position of masculinity is important to maintain their status and social roles in their communities. This relates to this week’s theme of Gender and Sexuality because it discusses how the masculinity associated with this line of work affects not only the job environment but also the worker’s status and daily lives in general. It connects to events outside of class because some job positions are still very gender oriented even though they shouldn’t be because they create bias in the workplace.

Question: Why do you think that gender associated jobs have an effect on status and social roles in Filipino society?

http://planetphilippines.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rsz_1pix_1_-_filipino_crew_of_a_cargo_ship.jpg

McKay, Steven. “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche.” Asian Diasporas: New formations, New Conceptions. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

-Brittany Carlson