Sarah Anne Ryman
University of Toronto

In  Disposable  Women,  Wright  explores  the interactions  between  capitalist  cultural  and economic processes at sites of capitalist production as  they  relate  to  the  gendered  disposability  of factory workers. By investigating the links between the  high  rates  of  turnover  in  the  factories,  or what Wright refers to as “corporate deaths” and the  “literal  deaths”  of  women  who  are  victims of  femicide,  Wright  unveils  the  location  –  both geographical and cultural – of the production site as an important subject of study. Wright emphasizes the  role  of  discourse  and  myth,  specifically  the “myth  of  the  disposable  third  world  woman,”  in constructing and maintaining hierarchies of power which  serve to  exploit  along  gender lines  at the intersection  of  culture  and  capitalism:  “No  one may  be  identical  to  the  disposable  third  world woman, but through the detailing of this myth, we are meant to learn something about real women who work in real factories and who embody the tangible  elements  of  disposability  within  their being” (p. 5).