I work for a minimum wage paycheck. Even with long term saving of that money, it does not provide enough to live off of. Allowing for people to work in harsh factory conditions, and only earn “third world” standards of minimum wage, is a complete outrage. Not being able to leave for the restroom, or to get paid overtime is a deduction on civil rights.
It annoyed me when the management consultant proclaimed that factory girls enjoy their working conditions. In America independence is valued as a high thing. It is what makes capitalism work. In non-industrialized cultures family is the highest value. Factory workers do not like being away from their families. Working for hours in terrible conditions, and then going to sleep in cramped spaces is not anyone’s desired lifestyle. Factory working should be deemed as an unhealthy experience.
Not a lot of people protest women working in factories. I think most of this is due to people’s lack of knowledge. People always hear about sweatshops, but not about all of the terrible conditions that go with it. Even when people do know about them, they have not seen, either on the news or in real life, the result of the conditions. It is not something that is regularly covered by the news, so people are not hyped up about it. Most people do not give it a second thought. Until more people are educated on the harsh conditions women work with in the factories, not much will be done about it.
