Child+Labor

__** CHILD LABOR **__ Child labor is work performed by children, and often endangers their health or safety. Other side effects including affecting their education and preventing them from getting the playtime children justly deserve. Child labor around the world is a prominent issue and is well-known as one of the world's evils.

In the 1800's, children were preferred for labor because factory owners knew that younger workers would be more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike, revolt, or even directly complain. So they treated them harshly and made them to labor that was like slave work. They defended themselves by saying that they provived shelter, food and clothes to orphans, eventhough none of these things were up to par.

Child labor was a result of the Industrial Revolution and the abolishment of slavery. As factories arose, the need for a cheap labor force also developed. However, the slaves that America had once relied on had been emancipated, so children quickly became the next victims of society's dark side.

Children were often chosen to do the most dangerous jobs because of their nimble fingers and small bodies. Many children were primarily hired to repair factory machines; work which quite oftened ended in loss of limb.

In some cases the children were physically and even sexually abused by their employers, and even by each other. More often, however, the jobs themselves did the most damage, resulting in physical deformities, poor health, loss of limb, and emotional scarring. Extreme situations even resulted in death.

Many people have tried to abolish or at least "fix" child labor with the Factory Act in 1833, which improved the hours that the children worked. Also, the goverment appointed officals to watch and enforce the new laws that were put into effect. One specific person was Jane Addams, the female activist who created the Hull House and set up the children's bureau in so that the U.S. government could montitor child labor. The image above is a metaphorical depiction of children being preyed on by businesses through child labor.



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