Class post. Enjoy!
Dr. S:
Thank you for your question. As I read Radin and Calkins (2006), I likened the child labor experience in India to the sweatshop experience for women in the USA and abroad (That I wrote about in an earlier post). This was my frame of reference. Radin and Calkins (2006) argued that the work environments that violate laws in a sweatshop scenario include:
Thank you for your question. As I read Radin and Calkins (2006), I likened the child labor experience in India to the sweatshop experience for women in the USA and abroad (That I wrote about in an earlier post). This was my frame of reference. Radin and Calkins (2006) argued that the work environments that violate laws in a sweatshop scenario include:
- Extreme exploitation, including the absence of a living
wage or long work hours;
- Poor working conditions, such as health and safety
hazards;
- Arbitrary discipline, such as verbal or physical abuse;
and/or
- Fear and intimidation when they speak out, organize, or
attempt to form a union (p. 262).
Ramishvilli (2012) reported that children (child
labor) are also working in deplorable conditions in India. Dan McDougall (of
The Observer) went to India and talked with a child named Amitosh who was 10
years old and was working for a GAP contract in India. Amitosh said,
The men came looking for us in July. They had
loudspeakers in the back of a car and told my parents that, if they sent me to
work in the city, they won’t have to work in the farms. My father was paid a
fee for me and I was brought down with 40 other children. I am working for
free. The supervisor has told me because I am learning I don’t get paid. It has
been like this for four months (Ramishvilli, 2012, para. 6).
According to the UN, India has become the world
capital for child labor, employing over 55 million children aged everywhere
from 5 to 14. Amitosh was sold into bonded labor by his family and now works 16
hours per day, hand-sewing clothing for Gap (Ramishvilli, 2012).
Ramishvilli (2012) reported that the corridor in
which Amitosh works with a dozen other children is smeared in filth and has a
flooded toilet. Alongside of him works Jivaj who is 12 years old. Jivaj spoke
to the Observer with tears streaming down his cheeks, “’Last week, we spent
four days working from dawn until about one o’clock in the morning the
following day. I was so tired I felt sick. If any of us cried we were hit with
a rubber pipe. Some of the boys had oily cloths stuffed in our mouths as
punishment.” (Ramishvilli, 2012, para 7).
Ramishvilli (2012) revealed that Amitosh and Jivaj
are just two of the millions of children that are forced through similar
situations, for just one company, in just India. Indeed, there are many more
companies that exploit child labor and sweatshop labor in the USA and abroad.
Some examples include; Reebok, Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Forever21, Wal-Mart, Banana
Republic, Old Navy, Guess, and Gap (Ramishvilli, 2012).
It seems to me that the treatment that women face in
the sweatshop scenario is similar to what the children in India face in the
child labor scenario. It seems to me that the children have it worse off, if I
had to compare one to another. Thank you for allowing me to explain my
perspective.
References
Radin, T., & Calkins,
M. (2006). The struggle against sweatshops: Moving toward
responsible global business. Journal of Business Ethics,
66, 261-272. doi:
10.1007/s10551-005-5597-8
Ramishvilli, T. (2012, April 18). Sweatshops and child
labor: The price of fashion?
The
Gleaner, p. 1-8.
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