Amanda Wang

The State of the Girl Child: Labor and the Girl Child

            Today the majority of goods that consumers buy are made in China and then imported into the United States. It is well known that many of these goods are manufactured in sweat shops located in rural parts of China, many of which employ underage children and subject them to hard labor, unfair treatment, poor living conditions, and long hours. Industries such as toy production, textile manufacturing, construction, food production, and lesser mechanical work commonly use underage labor. A majority of these children are young girls since any boys in the family would be prioritized to receive an education if the family can manage to scrape together enough money to send them off to school. The reason for this gender discrepancy is that males, in the Asian culture, are considered to be the source of the family's future economic well-being. Girls have to be eventually married off with an adequate dowry, so they are usually made to work to provide for the family; placing thousands in a position that compromises their very life.

            A recent example that received worldwide attention was the incident in Beixinzhuang, China, where five girls who worked in a canvas factory died from the toxic carbon monoxide fumes given off by the burning coal in their room. They came back after one o' clock in the morning after working for over twelve hours in the bitter cold and had lit a bucket of coal on fire in an effort to warm the room. Their fatal mistake was that they failed to provide adequate ventilation for the poisonous vapors. After discovering their still bodies, it is suspected that the factory manager was in such a hurry to cover up the fact that that three of them were underage that he sealed two of them in the caskets while they were still alive. The girls' families were devastated at the loss and took measures to press authorities for action against the factory manager. But because the girls came from farming families, considered to be at the bottom of society, authorities concluded that all the girls were already dead before being sealed into the caskets and merely gave the families money in order to quiet them. 

          In principle, the national Chinese government is trying to end child labor and has taken measures such as banning both children under the age of sixteen from working and child labor such as prostitution and slave labor, but this has not prevented "a growing number of rural schools [that] have contracted out entire classes of students to work in urban factories, supposedly to help defray part of their school costs" or children being kidnapped to work (Ni). An article published in 2004 highlights this issue in which a school's headmaster in the Guangdong province was employing as many as thirty-five students ranging from eight to sixteen years old from the school in a private toy factory that he owned. When confronted about the illegality of his actions, he was genuinely surprised and claimed he was only providing the students a way to earn money. 
The main problem with this seemingly unending cycle lies in that people living in rural areas cannot afford to send their children to school yet cannot afford to have the children to sit at home either. In fact, the children who work to help support the family contribute a significant portion of the household's total income even though they get paid very little. In addition, few parents understand the hazards and poor conditions that their children have to work in and the children are reluctant to complain because they know that their family is depending on their income.
 
            Other organizations such as the ILO (International Labor Organization) have been working with the Chinese government on projects targeting preventing the trafficking of girls for virtual enslavement. China has also set up almost three thousand courts specifically for cases involving violation of children's rights, protection of children, and juvenile delinquency as well as issuing stricter safety regulations. An article by the Christian Science Monitor cites some of the companies that have begun to pop up on the opposite side of the ocean touting that their products are "sweat free" in an effort to provide the consumer a way to purchase items with ethics (Farrell). Whether these reforms are actually being enforced remains a question that few can answer because the Chinese government remains closed mouthed about actual statistics. 

          In my own opinion, a system of educating those in rural areas about the dangers of child labor needs to be developed. The government also needs to crack down on those who own the factories who do know that what they are doing is illegal and bring them to justice as an example to the rest of society. American consumers also must take action in consciously thinking about where the item they are purchasing might have come from as well as who could have made it. Supporting those who exploit girls in the labor industry by buying their goods will not aid the girls in any way. 

           A blog or even a forum dedicated to the issue of labor and the girl child could go a long way to promoting awareness and action in the global community. With either a blog or a forum, people could post and discuss their ideas, questions, and opinions. Most students in urban areas have access to a computer and internet, making it easy for everyone to take a more active part in eliminating this terrible practice.  

Works Cited

 "Bureau of International Labor Affairs." China - Child Labor. . U.S. Department of Labor.    08 Oct. 2006 <http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat/china.htm>.

 Farrell, Michael B.. "Shopping with conscience." 11 May. 2005. The Christian Science Monitor. 07 Oct. 2006 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0511/p15s01-lihc.htm>.  

Ni, Ching-Ching. "China's Use of Child Labor Emerges From the Shadows." LA Times                  13 May. 2005. 08 Oct. 2006 <http://www.laborrights.org/press/childlabor_china_0505.htm>.

 "UNANIMA International." . 2005. UNANIMA International. 07 Oct. 2006 <http://www.unanima-international.org>.

 Wertz, Richard R. . Politics - Human Rights Issues. 1998. 08 Oct. 2006      <http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/03pol/c06s01.html>.

 "Working Group on Girls." The Right to Protection Labour and the Girl Child. May 2006.    UNICEF. 07 Oct. 2006 <www.girlsrights.org>.