Do American consumers have any responsibility for child workers in other countries who make the goods they purchase? Why or why not?
When we go to a food market, many of the food that we eat has a list of ingredients, as well as nutrition facts. This allow us, if you are interested, in eat healthier foods, etcetera. Not knowing whether the clothing you are wearing, or the food you are eating was made possible by child labor is alarming. I understand the need for children to “help in the household”; however helping and demanding children to work for long periods of time is completely different. Boycotting Hanes for example, is not the real answer to the problem. The root cause of the problem with child labor is poverty. What we need is to find a way to help the families that are so desperate for monetary assistance to survive, they are willing to send their children into the workplace. The answer to child labor is to help families increase their income, to reduce their dependency on the income of the child (Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005 pg. 216).
…show more content…
However we can definitely control, or influence in the way children are treated in the other market areas. Article 32 and 36 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child state “children…must be protected from economic exploitation…from hazardous work and all other forms of exploration” (Lopez, 2015). We must make any company that is trying to export goods and services to the US to provide a way to reduce schooling cost and improve or assist in making education achievable. This all have the power to reduce child labor ((Edmonds & Pavcnik, 2005 pg. 215). We must demand that any export that enters to the United States is not necessarily free of child labor, but if child labor is involved, it is in a humane
Child labor is the use of children in industry or business, especially when illegal or considered inhumane. Child labor has been an ongoing problem for many years all around the world. Many people have taken a stand to fight against the devastating problem of child labor. Florence Kelley was a successful fighter, as she fought for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. To deliver a message over a strong topic such as child labor, a sense of strength, intelligence, and passion is needed, and Kelley truly had it throughout her message connecting with her audience.
Kelley explains, “We have...two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread”. By her use of statistics, she has grabbed the audience’s attention. With large numbers like two million, one already begins to question child labor. Kelley then goes on to
Around the world there is about 168 million children employed, according to the international Labour Organization. These children must work instead of getting and education
What did children face? What has America done about child labor? What will America do? According to Merriam Webster, child labor is, “the employment of a child in a business or industry especially in violation of state or federal statutes prohibiting the employment of children under a specified age” (merriam-webster.com).
The parents of these children would send them to work in hope to increase their families incomes. As a result of the new increase of child and women's labor the conditions for working
In fact, the social workers or authorities that go in search of these children in factories have only done more harm. Employers have them hidden inside houses with terrible conditions and terrible pay, lower than the lowest working standards. It is recommended that China and its government stop relying so much on their legal enforcement. They should find a way on making a more reliable and flexible way of fighting against the abuse of child labor. Policies should be changed and there must be a new way of looking at the supply and demand of these kids.
“Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time” (Grace Abbott). The issue of child labor has been around for centuries. Its standing in our world has been irrevocably stained in our history and unfortunately, our present. Many great minds have assessed this horrific issue and its effect on our homes, societies, and ultimately, our world.
We all have different views of the world that we live in, and we all have our stories to tell. But for the millions of kids that are being captured and sold to factories around the world, telling a story about their life would be an impossible thing to do. Unexpectedly, most cases when children are found working in some sort of unimaginable field, they are working to help their family out of poverty. With the income of only $15 a month, they suffered severed beatings forming unrepairable injuries and neglect leading to physical and emotional damage. Child labor happens for many reasons, being stolen, turned into a slave and poverty are the main reasons.
Child labor is something people in the United States might think of as awful, but for families in countries like China it is a way of life. Name brand companies, for example Nike, have their products made overseas often using children to do the work. The use of child labor in other countries for Nike brings up the debate on whether or not the United States should buy products that have been produced by children. The United States should not buy products manufactured with the use of child labor because of the unfair wages they get paid and bad working conditions. Some may argue that by putting children to work it is lowering the unemployment rates in countries, the morals of buying products produced by young teenagers is just flat out wrong.
The issue of child labor has long been a subject of discussion that -------. In her cogent essay, “Live Free and Starve,” directed at liberals and those in support of a bill passed by the U.S. congress that bans the import of goods from countries that have child labor, Chitra Divakaruni reasons on the subject of child labor in developing countries. In a persuasive tone, Divakaruni contends that the aforementioned bill is misguided in its intent. She argues that while the intentions behind the bill are good-willed, the bill would not be effective in its goal of helping the children. Divakaruni offers a unique perspective on child labor in foreign countries to increase awareness on how there is more to the situation of child labor than meets the eye.
“Live Free and Starve” (p. 290) is an essay written by Chitra Divakaruni describing what would happen if child labor laws were passed here in America. She intends to explain to the reader – the American voter – that by passing the child labor law they think it would free the children from the shackles of unruly business owners of third world countries. The purpose of the essay is to describe what is happening to children who are working in factories across third world countries when child labor laws were passed in the House. Divakaruni does so by using pathos, logos and ethos which are supported by vivid description, repetition, and anecdote. In her essay, Divakaruni talks about how the passing of a child labor law in the United States which prohibits the import of goods from factories that uses child labor would affect the children’s livelihood.
Not everything is what it seems when it comes to child labor. With their jobs, they might be in danger of physical harm or death. Their jobs may have them dealing with hazardous material. Child labor laws shouldn 't allow younger kids to be introduced to these harmful situations; they should be enforced so that these children are kept out of harm 's way. These jobs aren 't always fully safe.
Earning money is an unavoidable necessity for them”(Faulmuller). This is showing that these children that are sent to work, are working to benefit their families and themselves in hopes of pulling each other out of the poverty hole. “For example, when the U.S. Congress threatened to ban the import of clothing made by children under 14 in Bangladesh, around 50.000 of them went from their jobs in the relatively clean textile factories to collecting garbage, breaking bricks, or even prostitution. Moreover, economic modelling research implies that in certain situations (where demand is
But not all work done by children should be accepted as child labor. In other words, if a work doesn’t harm child’s health or personal development (educational issues), it is generally accepted as something positive and useful. Such activities develop children’s skills, provide experience and formulate them to be part of society. The term “Child Labor” is when children do work that damages their health or hamper mental or physical
Child Labor is were young children are put to work on things only eighteen and up should be allowed to do. Fourteen year olds even get hurt doing what they do, and because of that the u.s now has a law that only 18 or older can have a job that 14 year olds and younger were forced to do. We should not buy products that they sell because of how undergaed they are, the wage, and the working conditions. Underaged wokers is a reason to not buy the products because if you give them the money and they begin to get money left and right they wouldn't stop.