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Advantages and disadvantages of child labour
Advantages and disadvantages of child labour
Advantages and disadvantages of child labour
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Breaking mainstream thinking: legalising child labour. Child labour has been an issue ever since the beginning of mankind, it begun to spread wildly during the industrial revolution. Children below the legal age used to work as domestic helpers like, servants and cleaners, but after the widespread of factories and heavy machines, factory owners decided to start employing children to help around. Child labour is the act of employing children below the legal age decided by the court. Per a study made by the UNICEF 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty and 22,000 children die each day due to poverty as well (UNICEF, 2010). Third world countries are exposed to various threats, like extreme weather conditions, epidemic diseases and viruses that cause various adverse effects that leads to higher death rate every year. This is due to extreme poverty and the fact that just 1 or 2 pay checks in some families are not enough. Child labour has been a major concern lately, especially in India and other struggling countries. A variety of different arguments have been put forward about this issue. Some …show more content…
However, not legalising child labour will force children coming from working class families to take dangerous illegal jobs that even adults do not perform and are not legal in general terms, like transporting drugs, street hustling, and even prostitution, which is much more exploitative than any garment industry jobs. In addition, children can help their families with education fees and pay bills especially if they have a lone parent, so they will contribute to the family income. As well as, reduce labour shortage in countries with less population, this will lead to the increase in economy and work
Shah, Anup. "Child Labor." - Global Issues. Anup Shah, 17 July 2005. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .
Many children in these Third World countries have no other option but to go to work and help support their families. Otherwise they are left to survive for themselves on the streets ruled by crime and danger. Cathy Young strengthens this point by saying, “Some children, left with no other means of earning a living, may even be forced into prostitution.” Yes, to most people, working in a sweat shop does not seem like a good option but for some it is the only one so why get rid of it.
Throughout time children have worked myriad hours in hazardous workplaces in order to make a few cents to a few dollars. This is known as child labor, where children are risking their lives daily for money. Today child labor continues to exist all over the world and even in the United States where children pick fruits and vegetables in difficult conditions. According to the article, “What is Child Labor”; it states that roughly 215 million children around the world are working between the ages of 5 and 17 in harmful workplaces. Child labor continues to exist because many families live in poverty and with more working hands there is an increase in income. Other families take their children to work in the fields because they have no access to childcare and extra money is beneficial to buy basic needs. Although there are laws and regulations that protect children from child labor, stronger enforcement is required because child labor not only exploits children but also has detrimental effects on a child’s health, education, and the people of the nation.
Another example is that the children voluntarily join the workforce to support themselves.family. For example, an expert stated, “Poor children can contribute to the family income….Poor children can work to pay tuition fees” (“5 Positive Sides of Child Labor” 1). Child labor may be good for countries in poverty but in rich countries, it is the exact opposite. This is because the economy in rich countries is stable and does not rocket back and forth like countries in poverty. However, child labor is still against the laws because even countries in poverty should employ men instead of
What is Child Labor?Child Labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. Around the world and in the U.S., growing gaps between rich and poor in recent decades have forced millions of young children out of school and into work. It is estimated that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 are currently working under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative.1 Underage children work many different types of jobs that included commercial agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic services. Some children were involved in illicit activities that included drug trade, prostitution, and other traumatic occupations that included serving as soldiers. Child Labor involved threatening children’s physical, mental, or emotional well- being. It involved intolerable abuse, such as slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor or illicit activities and prevented children from going to school.
Child labor laws need to be enforced more because governments are paying little attention to those who abuse the laws; therefore children are being abused physically by long hours and economically by low pay. Farmers and many businesses in third world countries are accused of taking major advantage of these laws. This topic is highlighted as one of the highest controversial issues in labor politics. Child labor is a major issue in countries such as Africa, Argentina, and Bangladesh. For example, in Africa, some children do the work of a grown man for as little as one dollar a day. On the other hand, in the United States some studies show that child labor is a bigger problem in the U.S than some third world countries (Barta and others). Many farmers are facing a huge problem; the government is attempting to keep children from working long hours on their family farms.
Think about the cotton in your shirt, the sugar in your coffee, and the shoes on your feet, all of which could be products of child labor. Child labor is a practice that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity and includes over 200 million children worldwide who are involved in the production of goods for companies and industries willing to exploit these kids for profit. Although most countries have laws prohibiting child labor, a lack of funding and manpower means that these laws are rarely enforced on a large scale. However, even for a first-world country like the United States, that has a large number of state and federal law enforcement officers, child labor is still a problem because priority is given to crimes that are more violent or heinous. Child labor must be made a priority issue because it is a global plague whose victims are physically and psychologically scarred, lack a proper education, are impoverished, and whose children are doomed to the same fate if nothing changes.
Child labor refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (International Labor Organization). Child labor has been a big problem ever since the Victorian Era. Many counties worldwide have used and still to this day use child labor. Though there are many laws that have been implemented against using children to work, many countries tend to ignore them. In my paper I will be discussing countries where child labor is present, push to stop child labor, companies that use child labor, the effects on children, and the reasons for child labor.
Statistics indicate improvement in child labor issues, but trends can be reversed easily. Some child labor is more service-oriented and not a part that can be challenged by a boycott or legislation. Child labor in some countries involves being a servant who does not produce goods. Before identifying the consequences of child labor, probable causes and possible cures must be identified.
Is prostitution wrong? Is it possible to stop prostitution entirely? The debate on whether prostitution should be legalized in the United Sates is not a new one. On the topic of prostitution different ideas such as morality and freedom of choice come to play. The differing of opinions on whether prostitution should be legalized in the United States vary greatly, but generally they fall into three categories: anti-prostitution, decriminalization, and pro-legalization.
Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5 years old, are slaves to the production line. These unfortunate children manufacture shoes, matches, clothing, rugs and countless other products that are flooding the American market and driving hard-working Americans out of jobs. These children worked long hours, were frequently beaten, and were paid a pittance. In 1979, a study shows more than 50 million children below the age of 16 were considered child labor (United Nation labors agency data). In 1998, according to the Campaign for Labor rights that is a NGO and United Nation Labor Agency, 250 million children around the world are working in farms, factories, and household. Some human rights experts indicate that there are as many as 400 million children under the age of 15 are performing forced labor either part or full-time under unsafe work environment. Based upon the needs of the situation, there are specific areas of the world where the practice of child labor is taking place. According to the journal written by Basu, Ashagrie gat...
“Child labor usually means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) that restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, social and/or spiritual growth.”1
So I believe that the issue of child labour is not simple. As Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report argued, children’s work needs to be seen as having two extremes. On one hand, there is the destructive or exploitative work and, on the other hand, there is beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest. ‘And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development.’ My firm belief is that there is a difference between child labour and child work and that in both cases the issue is whether or not the child is deliberately being exploited.
Presently, about 11 crores children of age group 9 to 14 , are working as child labours. This makes 10% of our total population. All these children have missed out pleasant moments of their childhood and ultimately they will remain away from the mainstream of social development. If we as a society ignore these facts and neglect this situation, it may prove to be harmful to all of us.
Census (2011) of India indicates that there are over 12 million child workers in India. They are employed in textile factories, roadside restaurants (dhabas), hotels, domestic workers, in mines and so on. They are even seen doing hazardous work in firecrackers and matchstick industries. This is not a new scenario for India. The Government has been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict enforcement of policies and laws.