Are you for sweatshops or against sweatshops?
Low production costs mean low buying price. This gives consumers more power to choose what they buy. The wages they provide are not enough to live on.
They provide thousands jobs for of young women and girls who would have been pushed to prostitution. 75% of garment work is done by women who are often threatened with physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Sweatshops strengthen the economies of developing countries. Workers work 16 hour shifts with no breaks, 7 days a week
Sweatshops are the first sign of a country developing. Think 1800s England. 2.3 million workers die every year due to poor working conditions.
Where do you stand?
I am definitely AGAINST sweatshops. It is not worth the third world suffering necessary for us to save a few dollars on a new outfit. Also, I do not believe we are helping any country's economy by making them completely dependent on North American companies who will leave for a poorer country as soon as development begins. For these reasons, I only buy clothing made in the USA or Canada.
ReplyDeletePlease check out my blog about buying fashion made in North America: http://truenorthchic.blogspot.com
Thanks for raising awareness of these issues!
Hi Kelsey, thanks for your comment. While I completely agree with you that we cannot make a country completely dependent on North American companies, at the same time countries in Asia are quite dependent on this form of income (e.g. Bangladesh generates over 80% of its GDP from the garment industry). What is the answer here? It has to be a combination of government level policy, mobilising the people who work at these factories but also as you rightly said, changing our own behaviour...
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