The World of Sweatshops

1972 Words4 Pages

It is close to 100 degrees; it has been at least ten hours since the last break. The woman working next to you severed her finger on the machine today, and the wage for one day of working will not be enough to buy a decent meal. How thrilling does it sound to work in a sweatshop? This is the only option for most women and children working in the third world, to support their family’s needs. There is very little, if anything being done to resolve this shocking situation. No person should be exposed to this type of work atmosphere. Sweatshops are inhumane working environments.

Women and children are most often the ones affected by the cruelty of sweatshops. Child laborers in most countries serve to support their families to maintain the ordinary standard of living (Hartman). In third world countries, it is, in a sense, customary for children to do the bulk of the work to support their families. Women and children had to work in sweatshops to support their families (Olson, Wladaver-Morgan 525). When families immigrated to the United States, there were not many jobs to be had; their only choice for survival was for the women and the children of the family to work in sweatshops for bare minimum wages. Women and children are most closely associated with the abuses of sweatshops.

Wages for women and children in sweatshops are far from reasonable. Women and children always seem to suffer the worst effects in this work industry. According to Enderle, “Firms that practice child labor tend to stunt the children’s growth and they preclude their developing and rudimentary skills learned in grade school so they can get decent jobs when they are adults and lead fulfilling lives” (274). Children that are working in sweatshops are not de...

... middle of paper ...

...ed a “real” solution, but chances of this are slim.

Works Cited

Enderle, Georges. International Business Ethics. Notre Dame, Indiana: The University of

Notre Dame Press. 1999.

Hartman, Laura Pincus. “The Ethical Challenge of Global Labor Standards.” Journal of

Employment Discrimination Law 2.1 (winter 2000) 77. Business Source Premier.

EBSCO. Roesch Library, Dayton. 16 Oct. 2002. <http://library.udayton.edu>.

Moran, Theodore H. Beyond Sweatshops. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2002.

Olson, James S., and Susan Wladaver-Morgan. Dictionary of United States Economic History. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1992. 523-524.

Wangel, Arne. “Work Hazards and Safety Organization in the Third World.” Acta

Sociologica 31.4 (1988) 343-349. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Roesch Library, Dayton. 16 Oct. 2002. <http://library.udayton.edu>.

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