Sweatshop LaborA Global Horror

By: Dèyadra Nicole Straughter

What Will We Learn Today? What a sweatshop is What sweatshops are intended for The pros and cons of sweatshop labor Acts to stop them Ratio of men to women in sweatshops Conditions working in sweatshops Wages And much more!

What Is A Sweatshop Sweatshop- a factory or workshop in the clothing

industry (usually made up of illegal immigrants) where manual workers are employed at low wages for long hours under poor working environments.

Mexican Maquiladora- the term for sweatshops in Mexico generally with harsher conditions than most

The Sweatshop

They’ve existed since the 16th century and still exist in the present

Where intended to give jobs to immigrants to make cheap clothing, shoes and other apparel

Although they have been existent since the 16th century sweatshops weren’t exposed until 1889 by the British government

Exposure stated poor factories manufacturing clothing for low wages harsh hours and extremely poor working conditions

Now they are opposite of initial intentions

Conditions Low wages (pay as low as $0.13 and hour)

Long hours (some work as much 15 hour days while others do not get to leave at all)

High health risks (fumes from machinery, overheated areas, unsanitary environments, etc.)

Filthy rat infested environments

Crowded (especially women’s living quarters)

Barbed wire fences monitored by armed guards to prevent escape

Conditions Continued… Since women cannot have visitors or can

rarely leave they have no chance of getting help from the outside to escape the madness

Brutal management (beat and rape the women in Mexican Maquiladoras)

Children ages 5 and up work in these sweatshops

Woman are treated worse of all being beaten, raped, paid lower wages than the normal and brutal punishments

Women in Maquiladoras Sweatshops are 90% female age

16-25

Women in the sweatshop world are treated worse than the grounds walked upon

The worse that has happened would be murder of those who try to escape the conditions

Rape, sexual harassment and being threatened are more common

They are given a Depo-Provera shot to prevent pregnancies and menstruation. This also reduces vacation time (which they don’t get anyway) and increases productivity.

In addition sweatshops also fail to pay employees if they even pay them at all!

Workers Rights Most sweatshop laborers are

unaware of their human rights.

With no choice but to work, they get threatened or punished for insubordination (defiance of authority)

Many people including President Roosevelt have brought awareness of the topic and have created ways to show the workers that they have right such as the Fair Labor Standards Act

This act prohibited child labor, overtime requirements, and made minimum wage to be $0.25

Wages

Sweatshops are the lowest paying jobs and the people that work within them can barely feed themselves or their children

Third world countries have the lowest wages like Bangladesh with an hourly wage of $0.13

Immigrants make up majority of sweatshops and in exchange for their life they work 15 hours days with wages such as this

Wages Chart

Here is a chart of hourly wages earned in 2004

Ratio

The ratio of men and women in the sweatshop industry is usually 2 less me for every three women

Even without an actual set ratio there are way more women than men in the sweatshop industry

In Japan women earned less than 48% of what men earned

That’s almost half of what they don’t make!

Ratio Chart

Pros and Cons

Pros of the sweatshop industry would be:

The economic gain in which they have giving jobs to millions of people

Serving the buy/consume chain

Cons are they bring global shame to women and rights of workers

Sweatshops are a health topic, civil rights right’s topic, women’s rights topic, child labor law violation and much more

Stop The Madness!

Sweatshops can be bettered or even stopped!

It always starts with problem however this one ends with a solution!

Nike has already begun to help the cause by increasing wages and giving their employees food and benefits as well as shelter.

Petitions and protests are the root of problems solved

Its up to the world to make this issue either cease or improve altogether

We don’t want this

We Want This!

Thank for your time questions? Comments?