“Democracy is supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. Capitalism is ‘of the capitalists, for the capitalists’. Period” (“Child Labor Quotes”). Democracy is supposed to give everyone a fair chance and protect the people, yet we still find greed and capitalist gain fueled sweatshops in the United States. The concept of sweatshops originated in the early eighteen-hundreds when companies sought out ways to produce garments for a cheaper price, and immigrants in search of work supplied them with the labor to do so. Capitalism is an economic system that generates this kind of child and sweatshop labor. For example, for large companies to make a greater profit, labor costs were cut by extending hours and lowering wages.
…show more content…
Contractors would lure in their workers, who were mainly composed of women and children, by making promises of opportunities and other sugar-coated stories just to find that their employment was, in most cases, much like a living hell. And because the workers tend to be uneducated foreigners, many of them are unaware of their rights and are forced to continue with the employment due to employers who would threaten and even physically harm if any unions were formed or any other disobedience occurred. For women especially, the working conditions were hardly bearable. Some examples of this include tremendous amounts of daily verbal, physical, and sexual harassment, being punished for going to the restroom in times of menstruation, and some are even forced to have abortions if they get pregnant so that they can continue working. “Unfortunately, corruption and lack of concern among government officials exacerbates the women's situation” (Fashion …show more content…
Laws such as OSHA, FLSA, INA, random federal safety inspections, child labor laws have been put forward to manage companies’ means of production so that sweatshops can finally be a thing of the past. Reforms are made in result of flaws. In this case, the flaw in this system is that there are inhumanely bad working conditions that have caused millions of deaths, in America and other Third-World countries, to occur and it has pushed reforms into play. To think that the conditions have become so bad that there must be strict laws implemented to try and better the system should be enough motivation to actually fix it. But even so, the laws can only help so much before people begin to find loopholes or continue to carry on sweatshops in secrecy. It is extremely difficult for countries to monitor everything that goes on as well as to monitor for compliance. Loopholes occur to overcome such laws and a good example of this is shown through the shipment of overseas products. Products can be made in sweatshops in one location but because the means of production is known there it can be sent to another location in which sweatshops aren’t located. Because of the sneaky location switch, a country would be okay with
Contractors would lure in their workers, who were mainly composed of women and children, by making promises of opportunities and other sugar-coated stories just to find that their employment was, in most cases, much like a living hell. And because the workers tend to be uneducated foreigners, many of them are unaware of their rights and are forced to continue with the employment due to employers who would threaten and even physically harm if any unions were formed or any other disobedience occurred. For women especially, the working conditions were hardly bearable. Some examples of this include tremendous amounts of daily verbal, physical, and sexual harassment, being punished for going to the restroom in times of menstruation, and some are even forced to have abortions if they get pregnant so that they can continue working. “Unfortunately, corruption and lack of concern among government officials exacerbates the women's situation” (Fashion …show more content…
Laws such as OSHA, FLSA, INA, random federal safety inspections, child labor laws have been put forward to manage companies’ means of production so that sweatshops can finally be a thing of the past. Reforms are made in result of flaws. In this case, the flaw in this system is that there are inhumanely bad working conditions that have caused millions of deaths, in America and other Third-World countries, to occur and it has pushed reforms into play. To think that the conditions have become so bad that there must be strict laws implemented to try and better the system should be enough motivation to actually fix it. But even so, the laws can only help so much before people begin to find loopholes or continue to carry on sweatshops in secrecy. It is extremely difficult for countries to monitor everything that goes on as well as to monitor for compliance. Loopholes occur to overcome such laws and a good example of this is shown through the shipment of overseas products. Products can be made in sweatshops in one location but because the means of production is known there it can be sent to another location in which sweatshops aren’t located. Because of the sneaky location switch, a country would be okay with