Globalization is the opening up the world and creating many opportunities for economic, educational and health interaction between different people. Despite its relentless benefits, globalization has also brought with it different issues that are negatively affecting the people. As a result of globalization, international trading is possible. People have an opportunity of exchanging products and knowledge across different countries in the world. It is because of such freedom that globalization is facing an accusation of perpetuating child labor. Child labor has been a concern for decades ( Crane &Matten, 2016). Currently, the international labor Office estimates that about 300 million children between the ages of four to sixteen years old are working in unhealthy conditions worldwide. In most of the developed countries, such a situation is seen as unrealistic. However, the pressure mounts mostly in the developing countries. Recently, different governments from European countries threatened to impose a trade sanction that restricts the transportation of goods from the developing countries to the developed nations. The rationale for the ban was to force the developing countries to find ways of eliminating child labor. The issue that begs clarification is whether globalization increases or reduces child labor.
The proponents claim that globalization perpetuates child labor. In their view, globalization drives the urge for international trade. They argue that the developing countries strive to enhance a better trade between them and the developed nations. As a result, they use cheap labor to produce relatively low priced commodities that give them an advantage in the international market ( Ba, 2018). As a result, they need to look for a better method of ensuring that they do not operate at a loss. Cheap labor offers them an opportunity to export affordable product at a relatively little cost. On the other hand, the opponents argue that due to globalization, there has been an increase in employment that has stabilized different families. They claim that as a result of such stability, those families are exposed to financial resources. The financial stability creates an opportunity for such families to support different academic programs for their children. In this article, the effects of globalization on child labor form the basis of the discussion. The primary argument is that though globalization may seem to be reducing the rate of child labor, the reality is that it is a factor that perpetuates child labor globally.
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Child labor
Child labor has different definitions across different fields. The political elites view child labor as any work that reduces the chances of child development. In the legal arena, child labor is any work that jeopardizes a child’s right. However, economists use a less subjective definition when referring to child labor. In their view, child labor is an economic activity that involves a child's participation. Such activities include gruel and unjustifiable economic activities such as prostitution and slavery. According to Strauss (2013), children across different countries work as a result of diverse reasons. They work for economic purposes, for cultural reasons, and for social norms. Notably, work experience in some situations may be beneficial for a child and the family. However, in a case where the work is too much for a child's age, or the work is in some manner interfering with a child’s right, child labor becomes a matter of concern. An example of such a right includes educational right and the freedom right.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has been waging an intense war with the child labor issue. In the year 1921, ILO prohibited child employment. It came up with a convention that banned companies, especially from the agribusinesssector from employing a child that is less than 14 years of age. After a period of three decades, ILO enforced a law and mandated it to affect other sectors such as industrial sectors where children below the age were being employed in large numbers. The convention underwent different revolutions, and it reemerged strongly in the year 1973. ILO convention 138 of the year 1973 stated that a minimum age for employment “shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years”(International Labor Organization, ILO Convention 138, n.d.). In the year 1999, ILO came up with its most current convention prohibiting any worse form of child labor cutting across the age of 14 years to 18 years. The “worse labor” in this case is a conglomeration of gruel activities such as slavery, prostitution, and child pornography ( Anner, Bair &Blasi, 2013). Despite all these efforts, child labor is still at its peak level worldwide. Many children are still suffering in inhumane conditions. Though many factors are causing child labor, globalization remains to be the primary factor that is perpetuating the spread of child labor in many countries.
Globalization and child labor
Globalization by definition is the process where business and other different companies initiate their operations at an international level. Also, globalization can be defined as the act of developing influence in a global arena. A typical globalization trait is the exchange of commodities from one nation to another. As a result of globalization, people are free to exchange goods and services in the global arena. It is as a result of the freedom of trade that exists at the international level that many scholars and elites are claiming that globalization is at the forefront of spreading child labor. Though such notions are yet to be approved, there are justifiable pieces of evidence in different countries that are enough to assert the influence of globalization on child labor.
The Role of Globalization on Child Labor Perpetration
Globalization enhances international trade openness for different countries in the world. As a result, the freedom of trade piles pressures on different less developed nations that result to child labor perpetration. Globalization enhances trade between different countries in the world. Countries involved in international trade since it is much beneficial than the local business. A state has a potential of increasing its welfare in a situation where it specializes in the production of goods it can produce in large quantity and at relatively lower prices than its major competitors at the international level. Such a country does deliver such products and exchange them with other foreign nations for monitory value and other benefits. Such a situation is referred to as a comparative advantage. The core idea that drives slavery and child labor is the idea behind the comparative advantage in the international trading system.
In most situations, the cost of production usually is standard across the world. The differences that come with the comparative advantage from one nation to another thus rely on the factors of production. According to the trade theory, a country that specializes in producing a specific commodity relies on one particular element of production that it can access in large quantity. Such a factor is called the non-traded factor, and it can be either labor or capital. At the international level, there are two parties that trade. There are developing countries or southerners, and the developed countries or the northerners. Developed countries are capital intensive, and as a result, they export capital-intensive goods and services.
The underdeveloped, as well as the developing countries, have an abundance of cheap labor. As a result, they produce cheap and labor-intensive commodities. The situation, in this case, is simple to understand. Once a country increases the quantity of product it trades to other countries globally, there is a high chance that such a nation will gain what they lack in abundance. For this reason, countries that sell labor-intensive products will strive to maximize on their production to ensure that they earn more capital intensive products. In so doing, they will exhaust cheap labor in their locality to ensure they achieve their mission. Such a situation forces different companies to use any form of labor available with less consideration to age and rights. Such is the globalization scenario that has perpetrated child labor in the world.
An example of such a situation was witnessed and is still in existence in most countries in West Africa. Most of the Coffee lovers were surprised by the news that the first-grade coffee they enjoy is a product of child labor in West African countries. In these Nations, children were captured and made to pick cacao that is used to produce coffee. The children were employed and paid a little amount of money. The situation got even worse as most children dropped their education to work on a cocoa plantation to help their families raise money for basic needs. A multi-sectorial union had to be formed to address the spread of child labor in West African countries. The primary aim was to come up with legislation that reduces the use of children in cacao plantations. Though such laws have regulated child labor in the region, the high demand for coffee worldwide has still made more children suffer. The strategy has evolved from being employed to being captured and forced to work in these plantations with little or no payment. The current data still indicate that a good number of children are still captured and forced to work on such plantations for meager pay. The same situation is further witnessed in Egypt.
Due to the high demand for cotton at the international level, millions of underage children are usually involved in the cotton industry in Egypt. The children are paid to do different odd jobs such as manually inspecting and treating the cotton leaves to reduce their infection by various pests. The situation in Egypt has a little difference with those in the western countries. In this country, the job takes place during summer, and thus, it does not interfere with the schooling. However, the intensity of such employment is beyond the children. The job is much grueling. It is a composition of cruelty from the foremen, beatings, and extreme heat from the sun each day of the week. As a result, the job is hazardous to children. Further, studies have indicated that a good number of children that are employed to work in such firms are below the age that ILO set for employment. The job intensity and the age means that such work, though is less interfering with schooling right, is a form of child labor.
The case of cacao plantation in the West Africa countries and Cotton plantation in Egypt is a typical indicator of the role the free trade brought about by globalization play in perpetuating child labor ( Kovak, 2013). The primary driver of child labor in these countries is the demand for labor-intensive goods at the international markets. In the two countries, cheap labor is needed to enhance the production of competitive products. As a result, children offer the best solution since they are less likely to demand high payment. Further, they are less skilled and thus, they are paid a little amount of money despite the high degree of effort they put in such jobs. As the international demand for cotton and coffee rises globally, more children are needed to facilitate faster and high quantity production. The scenario means that more children are subjected to cruel work in the plantations to increase production.
Other than trade, globalization perpetuates an increase in wages and income in a country that opens up for international business operations. As a result, an increase in salaries and income may enhance different forms of child labor. Once a nation opens up for international trade, there is a high chance that international development may encroach. First, when a country opens up for global business, more foreign investments come in. Other than investment increment, there is likeliness of an increased value of a country’s exports at the international level when it operates globally ( Kennedy, Welch &Monshipouri, 2017). The increase in a country’s export value and investment in a country leads to a rise in local labor demands as wages are high. Other than these, such a state may find itself selling its product at a much lower price in the international market as a result of comparative advantage effects. This trade liberation has a potential of increasing wages and employment in the country. Such a situation has a different impact on the labor system in the country that can potentially lead to child labor.
First, the increase in earning opportunity may accelerate the demand for children laborers in the country. Further, the wages paid to children may also, and this may lure more children into the plantations. As a result, a high rate of children exploitation is a possibility. Also, other forms of children exploitation in other areas such as at homes may be witnessed as a result of increased wages and employment that come as a result of globalization ( Ehrenberg & Smith, 2016). For instance, in a situation where labor has become expansive, and there is a good salary derived from working in plantations, parents may change their roles to earn more money. They may concentrate on the plantations and neglect different roles they should play at home. As a result, children will be forced to come in and play such roles. In such situations, children can be exposed to different forms of child labor.
Globalization may also perpetuate child labor by curtailing policies and laws that increase child labor in developing countries. Most scholars and different policymakers claim that globalization increases employment opportunities in the developing countries. However, this nation faces different critiques. The first argument against this notionstates that globalization enhances foreign competition in the developing countries ( Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2017). As a result, most inefficient firms, mostly within the locality, may surrender and thus fall out of such competition due to their inability to mobilize enough resources to challenge the foreign companies. Though different benefits may accrue when foreign companies are introduced into a country, specific families will feel the pressure when local and inefficient companies fall off the competition and collapse. In this manner, the globalization brings about fewer employment opportunities.
The second argument against this notion claims that globalization further increases the entry of different multinational and foreign companies in the country, and this depresses earningopportunities and wages for the local individuals.In most states, international firms come up with competitive strategies that outsmart the local companies. As a result, they attain and maintain competitive advantage ( Ratha, 2013). The pressure thus mounts on the local companies that are unable to keep up with a high level of competition. After dominating the market, the foreign companies are capable of influencing any regulation that favors their operations in that country. In such a situation, anything is possible ( Boyden, 2015). For instance, such firms may influence the labor market by employing more teenage individuals than what is needed by the ILO. Further, such firms may also influence policies that enhance child labor in such developing nations. Furthermore, because most countries export goods to the rich countries as a result of globalization, the wealthy nations can pass a trade sanction that perpetuates child labor in the developing countries.
In summary, globalization is a significant factor that contributes to a high rate of child labor worldwide and mostly in the developing nations. Globalization brings about freedom of trade between different countries. In this manner, it creates a situation where states exhaust what they have to get what they lack. In so doing, such nations strain their labor resources to produce more products to exchange with the capital-intensive commodities from other countries. Through such interplay, child labor becomes inevitable. Also, globalization brings about a possibility of wages and employment increase in a nation. Increase in investment that comes with globalization increases employmentopportunities and wages within such countries. In such a situation, there is a high chance that more children get lured by the mouthwatering salaries and thus, prefer working than attending their educational programs. Also, it brings about a situation where parents tend to prefer working than performing their duties at home. Children are then forced to play extra roles that may expose them to child labor. Lastly, globalization brings about a situation where foreign countries dominate the developing countries. In so doing, such nations may influence policies that enhance child labor in the developing nations.
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