Screams from the Pink Collar Ghetto: First impressions of Papua New Guinea

Sunday, July 20, 2008

First impressions of Papua New Guinea

I'm currently in Lae, Papua New Guinea - a port town and the second largest city in PNG (as its abbreviated). Calling it a city, however is a bit presumptious. There don't appear to be any buildings taller than 3 stories and its quite spread out. I'm posting a few photos from todays "Fun Run" that I participated in where we walked through the city dressed in green and yellow teeshirts with thousands of others. More impressions to come later.

Photos from the "FUN RUN":

The military men join in running in cadence and singing.

Orange boots keep the mud out!

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What is a Pink-Collar Ghetto?

Pink Collar Ghetto describes women stuck in certain jobs, mostly low-paying and usually because of their sex. “Pink Collar” denotes historically female jobs like maids, secretaries, waitresses, and nurses. "Ghetto" is where marginalized people are forced to live.

I chose this title for my blog from a book I started to write when I was 22 and working in South Carolina as a bartender (barmaid according to my mother) and a receptionist/ temp. As a feminist, I was worried that I would never break out of the pink-collar ghetto. I read Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Bean Trees" and it inspired me to leave SC and go back to school.

Now I am a feminist humanitarian working on gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. It's been a long way from that pink collar ghetto in South Carolina but I never forget my roots.