Child labour in the fashion industry
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Photo Courtesy of rene bernal (unsplash.com)
As I mentioned before in my last blog post about the shenanigans that fast fashion imposes, I left out an important issue that deserves to be unmasked.
Child labour.
Unfortunately, the fashion industry does contribute to this type of undertaking that is still happening to this day.
Nearly 1 in 10 children across the globe (around 152 million) are subjected to child labour, almost half of whom are in hazardous forms of work.
Because of the great demand and supply of textiles and garments needed in the industry, brands and other clothing companies rely on this type of labour. Even if they claim they may not be aware of it or turn a blind eye and ignore it is happening. Some companies even declare to consumers that they pose strict guidelines to stop this kind of labour. It is a little hard to believe after learning how much children in the world are still engaged in child labour today.
I can understand how they cannot enforce the guidelines because it is happening in other countries, with different laws and rules. These countries do not provide protection for working children who work or are forced to work and simply do not care as long as the job is done.
But because of the demand for finding cheaper sources to produce the textiles and garments, the fashion industry holds the pioneering role of employing this kind of labour.
Although child labour is prevalent in the most impoverished countries in the world. In many other countries, it is not permitted. The causes, poverty hardships people encounter in these countries and no laws to protect the children, they are taken advantage of. It is a continuous harsh cycle for poverty-stricken families. They are left with no choice to let their children work or even force them to, and the consequences are upsetting. The children are faced with terrible physical and mental harm, restricting their rights to go to school and have proper healthcare, threatening their futures.
In South India, parents are tricked into sending their daughters to work in spinning mills (a place where the production of yarn or cloth is from cotton). Promised that their children will be taken care of, with a suitable place to live, fed nutritious meals, provide training and schooling and a payout after three years. But in the end, they do not get paid. Instead, forced to work long hours, work in hazardous conditions, violated their human rights. To become…
A modern-day slave.
In the statement above, it was hard to declare, especially the particular word slave. It is the description of the reality of what child labour is today. What is harder to grasp is children who are placed into this type of subjection.
““In reality, they are working under appalling conditions that amount to modern-day slavery and the worst forms of child labour.””
Here are some examples of the work children do across the world:
Photo courtesy of janine robinson (unsplash.com)
The production of cotton seeds in Benin (West Africa). Harvest in Uzbekistan (Central Asia).
Children transfer pollen from one plant to another and chosen to pick the cotton because of their small hands and fingers (which do not damage the crops).
Yarn spinning in India. Sixty percent of workers at the mills in India are under the age of eighteen. The youngest workers start at the age of fifteen.
In Bangladesh factories, they are used to put garments together. The children dye, sew buttons, cut and trim threads, fold, move and pack the garments. They also do such tasks as embroidering, sequin and smocking (making pleats).
Keep in mind, they get paid way below minimum wage, work long hours, expose to harsh chemicals, and work in hazardous conditions that affect their health. These are little children who have to endure this type of work because of the social inequalities in the world. And it is discouraging that the fashion industry takes advantage of this situation.
By 2025, an estimated 121 million children will be in child labour, with 52 million enduring hazardous work.
Colleen Moore
Colleen is a second-year student in the professional writing program at Algonquin College. She enjoys reading, old school zombie movies, family game nights and currently found a new passion for poetry. She is either busy doing assignments or playing Mario party with her daughter on the weekends.
