Child Labour And Child Labor

As early as the 1830’s Child Labor in the U.S. was already starting to arise. In rural communities child labor on the farm was common, children being employed in factories or mills didn’t seem to be much of a concern to people. In 1830 laws were passed prohibiting children to be hired in an industrial or factory type setting. By 1800, some states passed a large amount of laws prohibiting child labor. Often times these laws did not apply to immigrants so they were often abused on the immigrants which lead to the immigrants living in poor places working for long hours for very little pay. Immigrant or not, child labor back in the 1800’s was a way of life.

Child labor was very common and popular especially in the late 1800s and early the 1900s even though many people were not aware of the dangers. We can define child labor as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and cause to their physical and mental development. Children are the base of a country but in a developing country child labor is an issue that has yet to disappear. Most of the children remain illiterate because of their poor economic condition and parents do not have enough money to spend on the education of their children, rather they send their children for work so that they could earn some money during their poor economic condition. The objective of my research paper is to raise awareness

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

Child labour is a very real problem in the world today, and although it is declining, progress is happening at a slow and unequal pace. Child labour by the International Labour Organization is defined as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development (Diallo, Etienne, & Mehran, 2013, p. 2).” In the most extreme forms of child labour it could account for child enslavement, separation from their families, exposure to serious hazards and illnesses and being left to fend for themselves on the streets (Dinopoulos & Zhao, 2007). In order for certain types of work to be included as “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type of work,

“ Worldwide, there are an estimated 246 million children engaged in child labour. Some 180 million children aged 5–17 (or 73 percent of all child labourers) are believed to be engaged in the worst forms of child labour, including working in hazardous conditions such as in mines and with dangerous machinery. Of these children, 5.7 million are forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, 1.8 million are forced into prostitution or pornography and 600,000 are engaged in other illicit activities.”

Child labor was very common in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s in many places. Child labor usually took place in a factory working on a manufacturer line or doing as much physical labor as they could possibly do, being as young as they are. These kids who took part in child labor started some as early as the age of four or five, and then kept working until the day they died. Most of the time these kids has to work as much or sometimes more than even adults nowadays work. They would go to the factory while the sun comes up, work all day, and then go home at night to eat; and then wake up and do it all again the next day. These kids also were not working easy jobs, these jobs were very physical and hard labor. Also, the working conditions these kids worked in were not always as good as they needed to be. Sometimes they would even be put in situations where they could die any time of the day while at work. The wage for these kids were not to good either, some would get paid very, very little, and some would not get paid at all. Kids had no choice but to work and if they didn’t work they would not survive, therefore they would really work for any price. Which was usually a lot cheaper than any adult would work for.

Children have been exploited as servants and apprentices throughout most of history. But child labor hit new extremes during the Industrial Revolution. They worked long hours in dangerous factories for very little money. Child labor was useful because of childrens sizes they were able to move through small places in factories or mines that adults could not fit in. Children often worked to support their families. In the 19th century reformers sought to restrict child labor. During the Great Depression, Americans wanted jobs to go to adults instead of children. In colonial times child labor was not subject to controversy it was part of the agricultural economy. Children worked on their family farms but were also hired on other farms.

Why would someone use child labor? At first glance it would seem that child labor is useless. However, child labor can be valuable to employers throughout time. A quote by Lewis Hine explain it best, “There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work.”(Hines 1918).

Do you ever have to work? Do simple tasks or difficult tasks. When child labor was in America children had to work. They had many burdens and struggled with many tasks. In that period of America it was common for children to work. Now a days its illegal for children to work unless of a certain age. Child labor in the 20th century had many negative effects on America.

Child labor started very early in age in some countries and these children would find work with their parents mainly in the field work. “Child Labor was a social problem until the introduction of the Factory System” (World Book IN).

Up until the 13th amendment, owning a slave had been just like owning any other piece of property. No one felt guilty about how the slaves were being mistreated. The 13th amendment was the first step in ending slavery in the United States, but no steps were taken to end slavery in other countries. Even though people believe that slavery no longer exists today, about 5.5 million children are still held captive in slavery (Anti- Slavery International 2012). Child slavery can come in many different forms.

Today I want to describe to you one of the biggest obstacles to human rights today. I am sure that most of you don’t know that over 100 million children around the world work in hazardous conditions. Children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America work in extreme heat and are exposed to toxic pesticides that risk their health conditions. Statistics from the International Labor Organization show that ‘’there are about 73 million children between ages 10 and 14, and 218 million children between the ages of 5 and 17, working worldwide’’.  I am here today to convince you that the worst forms of child labor, including child trafficking, commercial and sexual exploitation, child domestic work, and hazardous child labor are still a concern today, and poverty, the lack of social protection, and the lack of decent work for adults are some of the reasons why child labor hasn’t been eradicated yet.

Chapter one: What are child laborers? How do children become laborers? Where do child laborers come from?

Halima is an 11 year old girl who lives in Bangladesh; she works eight hours a day six days a week. She works clipping loose threads off of Hanes underwear for only 53 cents a day. Halima needs to clip 150 pairs of underwear per hour, and she becomes exhausted to the point where she is able to fall asleep standing up. This 11 year old girl should not be working like this. Worldwide, there are approximately 150 million children involved in child labor who shouldn’t be. Child labor is an issue that attacks the rights of children and takes away their ability to be a child, as displayed by the countries of Eritrea and China.

The effective abolition of child labour is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Today, we have a better grasp of the size and the shape of the problem. More than 200 million child labourers worldwide, some 180 million are now suspected to be toiling in the “worst forms” of child labour – those activities that the global community has unanimously agreed are inexcusable under any circumstances and must be eliminated without de- lay. The persistence on such a scale of this violation of children’s basic human rights casts a shadow over us all.