Shoe Companies Exploit Women Workers

Shoe Companies Exploit Women Workers

I enjoyed the article ''To Get to Her Feet, Speak to Her Heart,'' April 4. But I was disappointed that the article made no mention of how most athletic shoe companies exploit women's labor around the world.

In the March/April Ms. magazine, I learned that these companies usually buy from subcontractors who employ the cheapest labor possible. Women stitchers in China earn as little as 10 cents an hour. Compare that with $7 or $8 a United States shoe worker earns. The labor in a pair of Nikes amounts to only $1.66 of the total cost. Instead of companies and retailers making so much profit, I'd rather see the women in Thailand, China, and elsewhere earning decent wages. Let's not forget our sisters when we ''bond'' with our sneakers.

Sarah Liros, Roslindale, Mass.

Cobra cuisine is for yuppie tourists

I was a little amazed by the story ''A Vietnamese Delicacy, Cobra Cuisine Is Not for the Squeamish,'' March 30.

It seems odd for a newspaper that has set itself apart with balanced and enlightened environmental stories to be promoting an activity that takes animals out of the wild, where they control agricultural vermin, and puts them on trendy dinner plates for yuppie tourists.

Kevin N. Brewster, Eagle River, Wis.

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