Sweatshop Labor & The Feminization of Poverty
Globalization is the emergence of a new world order. In future wars may not be military in nature but economic and trade wars instead. Regional trading blocs like the EU, NAFTA, and ASEAN have emerged as have common currency blocs. As these developments occur national boundaries are undermined in favor of free trade and economic development. Corporations are now forced to compete on a global scale while cutting costs, increasing production, and retaining competitive advantage. This often leads many companies known as Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to seek competitive advantage by hiring labor or opening manufacturing facilities in Third World countries. In these countries production costs like labor are less expensive than domestic costs of production. Many organizations favor globalization as a means of achieving corporate goals, but there are many issues to face including the exploitation of human and worker’s rights in foreign countries and the environment. Theorists argue that globalization reaps benefits for the MNC while at the same time spurring economic growth and development in less developed nations where the MNCs invest. Others argue that globalization is responsible for the exploitation of workers and the environment because MNCs do not face as stringent regulations with respect to each in foreign countries. We will now look at sweatshop labor abuses and the feminization of poverty on the global scale.
One such aspect of globalization is the issue of the “feminization of poverty”. The gap between men and women caught in the cycle of poverty continues to wide, with women worldwide earning on average slightly more than 50 per cent of what men earn (Women 1). Globalization helps widen this gap because there is a gender dimension to poverty. In many countries from Thailand to Argentina factory workers are often women and young girls. Many argue that the ...