Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution Essay

Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay. Children sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break. This was a little bit on the extreme, but it was not common for children who worked in factories to work 12-14 hours with the same minimal breaks. Not only were these children subject to long hours, but also, they were in horrible conditions. There’s large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for children to be using or working near.

When people realized how terrible working conditions really were, unions began to form. Unionization is the act of people joining together for similar beliefs. During the late 1800s, unions gave people hope that things would get better. The labor unions presented forced government officials to notice problems in the system because they demanded attention. The whole point of the labor unions is to express the dissatisfaction of people to help sway public opinion and the minds of government officials.

Everyone, unless you were richer, had to work approximately 14 to 16 hours per day, six days per week. Child labor was a big problem, most of them worked as often as their parents did. It was better for the factory owners to hire children. They, for one, were easier to control than the adult. THey could also fit in the machines to get things out because of how small they were.

Eva Smith is the most important character in ‘An Inspector Calls’ in my opinion. She is used as a tool by Priestley, to show us how the capitalists treat others and how they don’t care about others and how they think they have power over others in the low working class. “if they didn 't get rid of that girl, I 'd never go near the place again” Sheila Birling sacked Eva Smith form her second job because she was ‘laughing at her’ this is showing us that the upper class do whatever they want because of their wealth, class and privileges. Even though Eva Smith was never on the stage play; she is still important because a working class woman like her cant do anything to the upperclass families; yet she made the Birling family (an upperclass family) feel bad and guilty about their actions and take responsibility for corrupting her life. Eva Smith is the perfect example to show the audience that you might not be affected by this but someone might be and you will be the blame for it.

There were now many openings for jobs as well, as employers needed many workers during this time to work in these factories and mines, to make sure that they produced great results. However with all these positives there comes negatives and these all begin with child labour. The Industrial Revolution introduced child labour as a cheap-effective way to get work done, and since then it has left a print on our world. This is evident as children would often work approximately 12-14 hours a day for a very minimal wage with little to no breaks. Many children also suffered many different injuries such as a variety of physical deformities and many lung diseases because of the contaminated air which they breathed in frequently, trough their young, childhood years.

Many parents/guardians sold their children into labor in order to fend for themselves and also support themselves. This problem correlates to the factor that focused on economic pressures. Children needed to support their poor families and to get food on the table. According to the article titled, “Child Laborers Working over 60 hours Week in Slums of Bangladesh”, the author described, “Children cited the economic pressures facing their family as the main reason for entering the world of work.” The final factor is that most managers of sweatshop factories did not believe that their child labor and harsh working conditions were harmful or illegal. If they were unaware of how really malicious their tactics truly were, how could they have fixed their ways and improve their conditions?

Child labour has been happening since the beginning of the industrial revolution when factories were first introduced. The working conditions unfitting for children with large and dangerous machinery, long work days and very little break time. It is said that child labour was crucial during the Industrial Revolution for it to succeed. By the early 1800s, England had employed over a million child workers. "Factory owners were looking for cheap, malleable and fast-learning work forces – and found them ready-made among the children of the urban workhouses," states Professor Jane Humphries from Oxford.

Parents sent their kids to work in factories at a young age in order to bring money home to support the family, these children were exposed to extreme conditions and were often employed more than their older counterounts due to the low wages that were paid to children, they also had the same long working hours leaving ample time for anything other than sleeping and no education. Children were also beaten in the event that they weren't

The women employed on London buses and trams went on strike in 1918 to demand the same pay as men. The strike spread around London and South. Following these strikes, a committee was set up to publish a report. The report said that women could not do the same jobs because of their “lesser strength and special health problems”, despite the fact that women replaced men in many workplaces during the war and were effective. This did not sway public or government perception however, and while women that took over men's jobs got paid the same of them it was only for the duration of the war, and once the war was over men would return to their original

In the south, a three fold rise in the number of children laborers during the 1890’s, caused the public to become very opinionated about child labor laws. Meanwhile in the north, the National Child Labor Committee started forming in 1904. The Fair Labor Standards Act was finally passed in 1938 and it prohibited employing children under 16 to industries engaging in interstate commerce. Although you would think that many people would feel it was unsafe for children to work under these conditions, many protesters actually got better results when they said that children’s work hours should be shortened so they can go to school rather than because it was too dangerous and strenuous for the children. Even while the civil war was raging many people were still protesting for children’s work rights.