Two Cheers for Sweatshops

They're dirty. They're dangerous. Yup you guessed it. Sweatshops and according to this article, they're not all that bad. "Two Cheers for Sweatshops" by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn follows the two in their travels in Asia. There they meet a man named Mongkol Latlakorn. His 15 year old daughter works in a sweatshop. Like any father, he's concerned about her health, (the needles she uses to make clothes went through her hand twice) but even more concerned with whether the sweatshop closes or not. In Cambodia they also met a grandmother named Nhem Yen. She moved to an area polluted with malaria. As a result her daughter and son-in-law died leaving her with two grandchildren and three kids of her own. When I read this I thought: Why in the world did she move there in the first place?

Her answer: Food. Protection is also factored into the equation Her and her family needed wood. She hoped she could cut wood and sell it. A large mosquito net costs $5. She wanted to be able to buy a net large enough to cover all of the children instead of having to decide who would sleep protected, while the other lay exposed.

Sweatshops are responsible for substantial economic grow in Asia. It is estimated that their economic will match ours of half a century ago if they continue. All that these two Pulitzer Prize winner reporters talked to didn't mind the long hours. They didn't mind the one or two week vacation once a year. They didn't mind their young children working in dangerous factories as much. In this case for the sake of their families. To have some kind of income is held at the highest point, above all else. To have some kind of income for food and shelter from various diseases.

If put in this situation, would I feel the same way that most people do about sweatshops. Would I risk starvation, death and disease for my family as well as myself? Would you? It seems there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Sweatshops. What would you do?

http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000924mag-sweatshops.html