The Boycotts of Buying Clothes Produced in Sweatshops Essay Example
Introduction
The idea of customer boycotts on clothing with an aim of improving the working conditions in sweatshop seems wrong because of the existing pros and cons. Sweatshops entail a pejorative term regarding a workplace marred with poor working conditions considered as socially unacceptable especially in the clothing industry (Bagge et al., 2015). In these factories, employees work for long hours while exposed to poor working conditions and at the same time earning very low wages. Discussions and debates regarding sweatshops and the solution presented continue to evolve in various circles where some perceive customer boycotts as important in ending the negative issues associated with sweatshops.
Thesis statement: Boycotting Sweatshop by customers is wrong because they offer women with employment opportunities and despite offering low wages and poor working conditions, they end up benefiting the employees.
Sweatsho
...p presents some positive effects in some instances with beneficiaries from the industry testifying the importance of sweatshop in both individual lives, most notably regarding women employment and to the economy of a country. “One particular example where sweatshops lead to benefits relates to the Bangladesh garment industry where thousands of women especially those aged between eighteen and twenty-five years gain employment in sweatshops where they work in cutting, stitching as well as packaging clothing for renowned brands that comprise of Walmart and GAP. The clothing is later sold in North America and Europe.” It is important to note that women employment, especially in developing nations, proves more challenging than in the case of developed economies. Therefore, unlike in situations as in the case of sweatshops in Bangladesh, it becomes very challenging for women in gaining employment. Women employed in Bangladesh sweatshops
attributes the factories as important in providing an opportunity that other organizations fail to offer. Once women gain employment in sweatshops, they earn some income that helps in improving their quality of life. While earning a salary, women get an opportunity of managing their finances, make marriage choices and make decisions regarding the best time of procreation. Furthermore, female employees save money and use the amount saved for further education that enables in improving their literacy together with employment skills. Therefore, while well-meaning protestors may suggest closure of sweatshops in Bangladesh or else they pay higher wages, closure of the factories signifies taking jobs away from women.
One of the primary negative concerns raised regarding sweatshops relates to low wages (Sluiter, 2009). Despite the employment benefits that women receive below average wages. As such, it is indicative that there lacks value for the work done and the amount of wages received in return. While supporters of consumer boycotts on sweatshops products attribute the issue of low-wage as an important point for boycotts, it serves as an indication that employees in the sweatshops stand to suffer more as opposed to the situation where boycotts fail to happen. “Negative effects will result firstly because workers will lose their jobs with the action serving as an additional injustice to the workers as they end up suffering as customers target the employers. Secondly, the choice of workers to work in sweatshops happens because it serves as the better job while compared to other available employment opportunities.”
The issue of poor working conditions suffered by employees of sweatshop serves as another major issue raised in support of customer boycotts from the clothing products
of organizations with sweatshop. Although women working in Bangladesh attribute the job as important because it offers them opportunities in life, they equally admitted they faced poor working conditions on denial of labor rights, working for long hours and faced harassment in the workplace. However, while the poor working conditions serve as a justified course of boycotts for manufacturer products that run sweatshops, the existence of triangular manufacturing makes it hard for customers to learn about the origin of a product and the manufacturing place. As such, there is a possibility of engaging in wrong boycotts.
Conclusion
Sweatshops lead to negative effects of low wages together with poor working conditions while the positive side of the factories relates to women employment. Some individuals perceive customer boycotts as important in putting an end to the negative issues associated with sweatshops. However, because of the existence of both negative and positive impacts of sweatshops, boycotting becomes virtually impossible.
Summary
Sweatshops relates to a pejorative term regarding a workplace marred with poor and working conditions considered as socially unacceptable especially in the clothing industry. These factories are characterized by, employees work long hours and exposure poor working conditions and at the same time earning low wages (Ross, 2004). A study regarding sweatshops in Bangladesh reveals positives in respect to women employment that proves crucial to improving their lives. Customer boycotts possess both positive and adverse effects, but the adverse effects to employees outweigh the positive effects. Women serve as the leading beneficiaries from sweatshops by gaining employment that as a result improves their living conditions. While customer boycotts target employers, employees may end up facing further injustice.
References
- Bagge, P., DeStefano, S., Wray, B., Gladden, S., Blanchard, J., &
Ryan, J. (2015). Sweatshop.
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