Child labor: Is there a solution?

Some time ago, I got a comment from BinaryFootPrints asking if I'd like to help her spread the word about the evils of child labor. "Why, definitely!" I said. But here we are, almost a month later, and no post from moi on the topic. Various reasons have contributed to this tardiness. With everything that has been going around, I haven't had a chance to write about it. Sure I have written long posts on how the baby is and how we are coping and all that meaningless stuff, but this required some thought and effort. So I kept putting it away. Then I realized that I didn't have to research the topic exhaustively to spread word about it! I just had to write how I feel about it. And maybe point the readers to other such posts. Simple, huh? And I am wondering why I couldn't have had this light-bulb moment any sooner :D Anyhoo - without further delay...

First, read this post by BinaryFootprints on the subject. I have read other posts too but don't remember exactly where to find them.

I have heard the argument that it is better to give these kids a cushy job in your house because otherwise they will go find jobs that are more taxing or unhealthy. Well, sorry but I don't buy that argument. If household chores were really that cushy, you would have been doing them yourselves and even would have had your kids doing it. Yes, I know you are pressed for time and so are the kids. So, I understand the need for hiring a maid. But please, PLEASE don't insult my intelligence by saying you are doing these kids a favor when you hire them. You probably hire them because you can pay them less and get away with it. And you can boss them around more than you could boss a grown man or woman around. Maybe, just maybe, you hire them because you couldn't find someone else. In that case, I'd say make time to clean up your own house, wash your own clothes (really how much time does it take to do it with a good washing machine?), assign chores to your family members. I grew up watching my mom get up at 5:30 am, sweep and wipe the floors, wash dishes, cook TWO meals (one for the tiffins and another for "lunch" that we had when we came back from school) and leave for work by 7:30. My dad helped out. We all pitched in. It was never considered by mom's task alone. They washed the clothes on Sundays. Dad would tidy up around the house before leaving for work. He would cook rice or make rotis before leaving if my mom asked him to. So I know it CAN be done. If you really care for these kids, maybe you could sponsor education for one of them. But that would mean giving without getting anything in return, wouldn't it?

I have heard arguments that the kids can be taught to read and write at home while also earning a living. Really? Is reading and writing enough for being "educated"? That is called being literate - not educated. How about math and science and even language? So, again - do not give me these lame excuses for hiring young kids.

Needless to say - I am touchy about this issue. I didn't realize I was this touchy. And at the same time I realize I haven't addressed the real issue yet. I have just ranted on the reasons people give for hiring young kids. And I don't know where to begin on this issue. Hiring kids as domestic help is just a teeny-tiny part of the whole issue. How about shopkeepers and other businessmen who hire them? How about other businesses (and the sweatshops that we hear about)? Well, we have to start from somewhere, right? And in my opinion, the only way to eradicate this is by killing the demand. If there is no demand for child workers, the supply will itself dwindle away. But is it that easy to implement? First of all - not everyone feels it is a wrong thing to do. Second - how about those families that need every member to work in order to survive? We can make any number of laws and this problem still won't go away. There HAVE been laws - what did they accomplish? We can pay these families money so they wouldn't send their kids to work and would send them to school instead. We did it. But that didn't work either.

To the parents who are so poor that they need every hand in the family to earn a living (even though I know they will never read my blog) I'd say don't bring children in this world if you can't afford to feed them and provide them a decent education. Really - we need to spread that message around. Don't procreate if you can't provide. [Heh! Did I just make a slogan?? :P]

Unfortunately, all I can personally do about this (being where I am) is blog about it. When we lived in India with my husband's family, we did hire a young boy who must have hardly been a day over 9 years. I didn't like it but at that time I had no say in such matters. I don't know if I'd have been able to do anything if we had stayed in India but I do know that in 12 years of marriage I'd have finally gathered courage to create a stink about it. Yeah, seems hypocritical then that I am writing this post. But times change a person and now I am not who I was then. If we had been living on our own, I would have definitely never hired a child as domestic help.

For a brief time J's mom hired a maid who used to bring her daughters along to help her. But one special thing I just realized about this mother-daughter trio is that the daughters went to school and helped their mom only after returning from school. I am expecting brickbats for saying this but I'll say it anyway. I think that is commendable on the mother's part that she was atleast sending them to school. That she brought them along to help her lessens her "crime" in my eyes.

I have no idea how to help the kids in sweatshops and quarries. Like Binaryfootprints said - we can start by spreading awareness about it. Maybe that won't eradicate this practice completely, but it would at least make some people rethink. That would be a start, wouldn't it?