Children in Sweatshops - Essay Example

When people hear about Child Labor Laws on the news, they tend to think of children in Pakistan sewing soccer balls; this is a misleading view of themajority of children that are exploited for their labor. While the majority of child labor is found in poor countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, there is also child labor that takes place in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. According to the Human Rights Watch, hundreds of thousands of children are employed in the agricultural force, many of these being illegal and migrant workers.

As we can see, child labor is not simply a problem that can be solved by boycotting soccer balls or clothes from the GAP. International conventions mandates that anyone under the age of eighteen is a child. According to this standard, the ILO estimated that there were two hundred forty-six million children involved in labor in 2000. Also, there were an estimated eight and a half million children that were involved in forced or bonded labor, armed conflicts, and commercial sexual exploitation.

The earliest child labor laws were enacted in 1836. In Massachusetts, children under fifteen were required to attend school for at least three months out of the year. In 1842, a maximum of ten hours per day could be worked by a child. Many other states began to follow suit after the Massachusetts laws and early trade unions formed to protect children in the work force. There were many steps that took place after this, and much opposition to child labor laws, but the Fair Labor Standards Act was finally passed in 1938.

This was the time that child labor laws in the U.S. were federally regulated. The focus of many of these laws that were passed dealt with children that worked in factories. Laws requiring children to attend school in England were passed in 1881. There are many reasons that child labor is still able to be used today. For example, many countries have exceptions written into their laws which allow child labor to still be exploited. In Nepal, the minimum age for working is fourteen, but there is an exception to the law which allows them to work in plantations and brick kilns.

Similarly in Kenya, there are laws that prohibit children under 16 from working, but that does not include the agricultural force. Bangladesh also does not set regulations regarding agricultural or domestic work. India and Bangladesh typically have the worst reputation internationally for child labor. There are laws in both countries prohibiting children under fourteen from working, but these laws are often ignored. In sweatshops in these countries, children will work for as many as twenty hours a day, and they will make six and a half cents per item made.

Other companies will pay their child workers one dollar per week. There are many different forms of child labor. The most widely-recognized, sweatshops, is perhaps the smallest actually used. People boycotting products made by child laborers are only affecting child labor that takes place in exporting companies. Other types of child labor are agriculatural, manufacturing, auto repair, and the making of textiles and footwear. Also, the majority of girls involved in child labor are maids.

There are many reasons that children are still put to work in the modern day work force. Sometimes there are family expectations and traditions which force children into labor. If there are not viable alternatives to children, such as properly equipped schools, children will get involved in labor. Often times in countries there are attitudes that downplay the risks involved in child labor. For whatever the reasons, child labor still exists. Increased educational opportunities will go further to decrease child labor than the boycotting of products.

This a problem that is everyone’s problem. Works Cited“Youth employment statistics .” Child Labor Coalition. Available at “Child Labor in U.S. History.” Child Labor Public Education Project. Available from “Child Labor in Victorian England.” Available at