Child labour is neither an issue
of the past nor a characteristic of a developing country. Child labour is common
during times of economic downturn. Today, most children work. The main concern
is whether it is good for a child to work? If so, why should we intervene?
On this page, we will be investigating some issues on Child Labour:
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WHEN IS CHILD LABOUR BAD?
Of course, the authorities
concerned intervene towards the work of a child mainly out of the welfare of the
child. It is when work is turned into labour that we must do something about it
– intervene. As early as the 1600s, almost all children in the population
overworked and were maltreated in the colonies. Many of them were sold to
employers out of family poverty and had to live under constant punishments and
torture. See link: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.
It is important that children should be given sufficient time for play and education. This will help them to develop their own selves, mentally and emotionally so that they are better able to integrate into the society in the later years. As child labourers hardly able to find or given time for play and education, people argued that child labour should be abolished. (McConville: 1988).
In less developed countries like India and West Africa, most children work. Are all child work considered as child labour? There are no definite answers to such issues. But what we do know is that we should intervene when a work done by a child is harmful to his or her development.
CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
Poverty
The root cause of child labour is poverty.
Government policies like industrialisation have reduced the job vacancies in the rural areas. This forces village folks to compete with city dwellers for employment in the urban areas. (McConville: 1988). Due to high command for skills and training, the latter is always at the advantage.
Rural dwellers find only unemployment and poverty in the rural areas. In order to ease the burden of adults, children are forced to work.
Literacy
Traditional culture and no awareness about the drawbacks of high fertility have led to high birth rates in the country. Some parents find it difficult to cope with the costs of child rearing. As a result, parents, hoping to change their children’s quality of lives, sell their children to work for other people. (McConville: 1988). Sadly, children are often sold to brutal employers who ill-treat them.
WHY ARE CHILDREN PREFFERED SOURCES OF LABOUR?
Vulnerability
As children are vulnerable, they are more preferred to adult-worker. They have no or little experienced in fighting for themselves, as they are easily satisfied. In addition, they are less likely to make a fuss over the lack of health and safety protection. This means that employers can save the costs of protecting child-workers.
Physical Traits
Children are exploited for their physical traits. A small-built child can be easily pushed around at the workplace. For example, in a manufacturing industry, a child can be pushed under a machine to retrieve by-products. The nimble fingers of a child are an advantage to weaving companies for their nimble fingers can tie tiny knots at fast speed. (Greene: 1992).
Lower Wages
Children are exploited due to lower wages. Children are cheaper to employ as compared to adults. Multinational Corporations usually employs workers; especially children from less developed countries. This is because this will lower their costs of production. In addition, MNCs are able to escape from the restrictions of anti-child labour laws.
As Children are usually forced to perform tasks that are dangerous, many feel that children should not work. Often, brutal employers may use corporal punishments like whipping, starvation and scalding to make children work. (McConville: 1988).
CAN CHILD LABOUR BE GOOD?
In countries like America, people believe that working children can be a source of income to parents, as parents do not need to be overly reliance on public charity. In addition, children can learn to be independent. Work can inculcate moral values like responsibility and thrift in the young. (Greene: 1992).
States with a high mortality rate and low rates of life expectancy need their people to help drive the economy. A lowering of the “legal” age would therefore result in a larger workforce and a better standard of life for families.
Wages of children are also much lower as compared to adults, this will reduce the costs of operations and make the home country relatively more competitive in the export markets.
SOME WAYS TO REDUCE CHILD LABOUR
Trade Unions
The formation of trade unions should be encouraged to help the world especially during times of economic downturns. This is because such business cycles give rise to unemployment and poverty and hence lead to further child labour. With trade unions, better wages can be bargained for and employers are likely to meet the demands of trade unions in fear of threats that may counter affect their production and sales.
Foreign Aid
Countries that are relatively better off should help to provide foreign aids to needy countries. Donations would be a better source of aid as compared to loans because repayments of loans may be a further financial burden to nations in future.
Education
Compulsory and if possible, free education is desired. This will teach children how to say “no” to exploitation and how to report child exploitation cases. Stressing the importance of education in breaking the provety cycle will also encourage parents to keep their children in school rather than send them out to work.Reduction of Poverty
A reduction in poverty would decrease the need for children to work.
Increase in Adult's Wages
By increasing adult's wages, there would be a decrease in the need for children to work to help support the family. increased wages for the parents also reduces incidences of children being sold into child slavery.
SOME
INTERESTING LINKS ON CHILD LABOUR: