Sweatshops and Child Labor

Sweatshop is defined as a factory or workshop, especially in the clothing industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours and under poor conditions. Sweatshops also referred to as the “sweat factory”, creates a hazardous and unhealthy working environment for employees such as the exposure to harmful materials, dangerous situations, extreme temperatures and abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers work for long hours, sometimes without taking any breaks, and these workers are not paid for any overtime hours or the minimum wage, although it is mandatory by law. These conditions are considered risky for any person, but the worst part is that in many countries, children are being forced to work in these sweatshops. The term sweatshop is mostly associated with underprivileged developing countries especially in Asia, but sweatshops did exist at some point in United States and Europe. For Americans, sweatshops are history, but in a South Asian country, Bangladesh, people are still working in these horrible conditions, especially children. Child Labor has always been a part of developing countries and a current article about child labor in Bangladesh shows that it is never going to end.
Recently, British Broadcast Corporation, also known as BBC, sent one of their newsperson, Alastair Lawson, to a safety pin factory in Bangladesh where many under aged children are employed. Lawson interviewed a ten-year-old girl named Asma, who works in that factory along with ten other children who are about her age. Asma’s job consists of “sitting on a bench alongside her co-workers, Asma operates a powerful cutting device in the poorly-lit premises for up to 12 hours a day.” The machine that Asma operates cuts the metal for the pins very thinly and if Asma makes any mistakes then she could lose her fingers on that cumbersome, heavy and dangerous machinery. When Lawson further interviews Asma, she tells him that the workers in the factory are not given any