Sweatshop-(noun)A shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions.
I've always associated 'Low wages', 'LONG hours', 'child labor laws', and 'Poor Working conditions' with the word Sweatshop. For now that is all the knowledge I possess on the subject. Sometimes, for a fleeting moment I think 'Maybe it's not that bad. Maybe some people don't mind working in Sweatshops. Am I missing something? I must be. It is my hope that after a while, I will come to a better understanding of the word Sweatshop and form a more concrete opinion. If you'll join me on this journey, perhaps your opinion will change as well. Then again now that I think about it, SWEAT is in the word. Sweat isn't usually associated with good things. With burning of calories. Exercise of course. Sweat could be a serious warning, stress even. I get stressed just thinking about the word. Sweat doesn't sound too appealing now does it? Oh well, Neutrality (until evidence proves otherwise) may be best suited in this journey.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sweatshop
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The word sweatshop drives me nuts. I think it's divisive: inspiring discussions on whether not sweatshops are good or bad. That's nuts! Of course "sweatshops," actual dark, gloomy, dehumanizing, atrocious conditions sweatshops are bad.
See Nick Kristof's recent column: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=1&hp
Recently I went on a worldwide quest to meet the people who made my clothes as I researched my book "Where Am I Wearing?" What I found was that most of the people that make our clothes don't work in what we picture to be a sweatshop. In fact, of the workers I met, many of them worked in a place that wasn't too unlike the garment factory I visited in New York. Sure, some places are actual sweatshops -- just awful places.
It's not as simple as being for or against sweatshops. The jobs mean an awful lot to the workers and the families they support. They sacrifice much to have them. BUT often they could be treated and paid better regardless of how modern the factory they work in is.
I think that the term sweatshop is holding us back from advancing conditions in the garment industry because clothing brands bristle at the word, yet everyone tosses it around when referring to their factories. We need to move beyond a debate about sweatshops and maybe then we can really start to advance workers' rights.
That's my two cents. Keep asking questions!
-Kelsey
Post a Comment