Women and Sweatshops

Women and Sweatshops

Do you ever wonder or ask yourself where does the clothes or items you buy come from. many of us usually care about buying a new shirt, pair of jeans, skirt, or anything else as long as its new but don't question the resources or means that took to make what we wear or what we own. if you buy from a retail store such as American Eagle, Abercrombie, Wal-mart, or any other store that is popular enough, do you ever question, who made this? if you answered A. women in the third or underdeveloped world B. children or C. people in sweatshops, you are correct. if you didn't, it may surprise you to know that what you are wearing right now, a child from the poorest country made your new shirt or jeans for about less than a dollar an hour.

For those who do not know what a sweatshop is, here is a bit of an Intro to what a sweatshop is. A sweatshop is a factory where the poorest people work for very little pay if any where they work long hours, extremely low wages, working in poor conditions, and receive no if any benefits. Multi-National Corporations have moved from the United States into what is considered the 3rd world countries to gain more profit by exploiting poor people of color. The reason why these companies have moved to underdeveloped countries to continue their greed is for many reasons. 1. in underdeveloped countries the government is less likely to stop sweatshop exploitation from its citizens usually because these corporations have made a deal with the government of some sort. 2. there are no Human Rights or Women rights organizations who will bring justice to these women and children being exploited. and 3. Multi-National Corporations can pay their workers very cheap labor for many hours of hard labor of the day.

Sweatshops are some of the worse jobs for women and children of underdeveloped nations to work at because the conditions of these places are horrible. workers of sweatshops work long hours and the conditions in which these workers are working violates the human and women rights of the employment policy. sweatshops fail to make the wages that meet the cost of living for any human being. the pay for sweatshops workers is extremely low that at the rate these workers are working at forces them to become in debt with the sweatshop for life. $.10 to $.20 cents per hour is what these women and children are getting paid while expected to survive off of that.

when workers get in debt with the sweatshop, there is no way that with 10-20 cents an hour would ever have a chance to catch up and get out of debt. not even with many years is this possible. since the conditions are so horrible, some have tried to leave the sweatshop but the results of running away are even harsher. if one attempts to escape they are subject to being blacklisted, fined, or imprisoned. many workers are not even payed for their labor either while working for a sweatshop. workers are promised a paycheck but spend days and weeks and even years without compensation.

Since most women do not know their rights within their jobs in sweatshops they are subject to being taken advantage for their labor. since they do not know their rights they are often threatened by the employer and many times are punished as well. though we may think this is horrible and not human, we are supporting these Multi-National companies because every time we buy from these stores we are demanding more of it which in turn results to more bodies of color being exploited for our own satisfaction. to conclude on the topic, a good way to make a change with getting rid of sweatshops is to bring awareness of the human global injustice that buying products such as the ones that huge corporations bring such as Wal-Mart, American Eagle Abercrombie and many more that make it easy to exploit bodies of women and children all around the world.

21st Century Slavery

slavery serves as a form of the continuum of global history of thousands of bodies of color being exploited for many reasons and for the profit of few. examples of modern day slavery include those who are in less fortunate sitations and the poor of the poorest being subject to forced labor, forced prostitution, debt bondage, forced marriage, and even the inclusion of the transfer of children who serve as purpose to become exploited. they are sold or taken from their villages against their own will either alone or as a whole family to huge companies to produce what other countries demand such as foreign rugs, chocolate, brick companies and clothing and many more.

below are places that take part in human trafficking and enslavement of bodies of color. these consist of Africa, East Asia, Eurasia, Near East, South Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Within these countries, it includes places such as Algeria, Mali, Somalia, Australia, China, Laos, Albania, Belgium, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Afghanistan, Including India, Pakistan, and Lastly in the Western Hemisphere there is Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. these are just some of the many places globally that are continuing to produce slaves and human trafficking for the purpose of personal benefit. not only do the slaves suffer from this global injustice, but the families of these suffer as well because many times they think that their daughter or son are making a living or gaining money to send back home but in reality their bodies become extra bodies of free labor. many families do not get to see their slave family members ever again.

Many slaves are forced into free labor and they are forced to believe that they are not worth anything while the people exploiting them lie to the workers telling them that they will be paid. by the end of the day the workers see no results or no money. Since many of modern day slaves are far from their home towns, they are left with no money, no access to the outside world, and no connection to anyone that can help them out. those that work in the streets as beggars are told that they have to make a certain quote for the day otherwise they get beaten. many of the street workers suffer abuse as well as sexual abuse from the person in charge.

the internalization for these slaves in believing that they are not worth much is very common in all the exploitation sites. many women, children and men are held to the lowest living standards that they are treated so poorly that they end up believing that it is their destiny to be where they are. One example of this sort of global inequality takes place in Africa, Benin to be specific. it is the story of a boy named Joseph, he is promised a better life and he and his family believe that he will have a better life if he goes to work away from home. the reality is that Joseph ends up being a slave and beaten daily by his "master" not until 3 years later he is able to make a phone call back home and his family rescues him.

Human trafficking is also very problematic and a big deal in Africa in the Republic of Benin. A study shows that about 40,000 children were being trafficked into to and from Benin to serve as slaves, and sexually exploited as well. familes are lied consistently and promised that their children will live a better life but they are only subject to slavery when they get to the promised land of opportunity. it leaves families and children worse than where they had started. though it may seem harsh, it is the pure reality in which we live in where we are taught to be greedy and have more at whatever cost. without realizing it, we are consumers and supporters of human trafficking and modern day slavery.