Introduction...
Child Labor has been going on all over the world for centuries and is still going on now today. Even though there are laws against child labor here in the United States of America, people still do it. The first word you think of when you here the words "child labor" relates to something bad. If you think that it is okay for a child to work, it is, but child labor is different form child work. Well, if you thought child labor was bad, it gets worse. See below for more details.
Child Labor Against Child Work...
Maybe you think that child labor and child work are the same because labor is another name for "work." Actually, they are not. Here are brief descriptions of child labor and child work.
Child Labor...
Child labor is the bad one of the two. Child labor means that the child has no choice about working. Since there is extreme poverty in some places, the kids are forced to do jobs that put thier long-term health, physical development, and lives in danger! A lot of kids all over the world labor all the days of the week that slows down their growth, hurts them emotionally, or cripples them. The children that are going through child labor are being controlled by these people through abuse and are being forced to work under horrible conditions because the children in most poor countries have little or no power. The kids might get pay, but they miss out on school, and they have to work a lot of hours for far less the pay than the adults. The places where the kids work is really unsanitary, hurts them, and prety much ahs no pay! The bad part about this is, a bunch of countries, both rich and poor, think that child labor is acceptable an that ia a "natural condition" the has happened because of poverty. Do you think this is acceptable?
Child Work...
This is the better one out of the two. Child work means that it is the child's decision to work or not. Kids work so they could learn more skills, to develop self-esteem and desipline, and to know what money is really worth. Kids usually choose to work so they could have their own spending money, save up for college, or to buy something that they wanted. These jobs do not hurt the kids or stop them from going to school and getting their proper rest. There is nothing about child work because it is the child's choice wether they want to work or not. So, five year olds will most likely not be working because most little kids don't want to work. Only the teenagers would want to. They also get the proper money that they need. Well, this seems a lot better than child labor huh!
Child Labor All Over the World...
- Philippines, Asia: In the Philippines, bonded children are treated like they were animals! They are padlocked and caged in jail like structures when they are not working. They are supposed to live in a place that is congested, unventilated, really dirty, smelly, and is not fit for a human being. (UNICEF) ewww!
- India, Asia: Since India has a well established caste system, some people believe that low caste children should work instead of going to school.
- Malaysia, Asia: Kids might work up to seventeen-hour days on rubber plantation, open to insect and snake bites.
- Morocco, Africa: The children crouch down at looms for long hours with small pay, knotting the strings of luxury carpets for export.
- Portugal, Europe: Kids as young as twelve are subject to a lot of big labor and the myriad dangers of the construction industry.
(UNICEF)
Where they work...
These children work in many harsh places like sweatshops. A sweatshops are badly ventilated, unsanitary, disgusting, hazardous factories (see above picture.) They also work as workers at the mill, newsies, miners, workers at factories, seafood workers, fruit pickers, salesmen, and even workers the bowling alley setting up pins for hours. Their life was harsh huh!