According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." Yet, according to poverty and sweatshop statistics reported on Dosomething.org, more than 3 billion people in the world live on less than $2.50 a day, and more than 1.3 billion live on less than $1.25 a day. For these individuals, living in poverty is a daily struggle that results in poor medical care, lack of education for their children, as well as a lack of food and clean water. Around the world, more than 1 billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking water and an estimated 400 million of these are children. Unclean water yields illness which contributes to roughly 443 million school days missed every year and the death of 22,000 children each day. In addition, in developing countries, it is estimated that 250 million children ages 5-14 are forced to work (Dosomething.org).
In addition to millions of men and women, many of the children who are forced to work do so in "sweatshops," i.e., factories where manual workers are employed "at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions" (dictionary.com). In modern society, the apparel industry is booming and goods are in high demand with the average American purchasing eight pairs of shoes and 68 pieces of clothing per year (Chau, 2012). In order to control costs and meet the demands, large companies frequently contract with manufacturers in underdeveloped countries around the world to produce these garments (Chau, 2012). These manufacturing jobs are frequently in high demand by the citizens in these under developed countries because these jobs pay more than agriculture or service jobs (Kristof, 2009). Thus, the tensions between economic factors that go into producing goods at affordable retails prices and the cost incurred by the labor force in mostly underdeveloped countries contribute to the persistent existence of sweatshop labor. For a corporate officer, knowing how poverty impacts individuals and balancing the marketplace expectations of maximizing profit is challenging (Wong, 2013). It begs the question, do multinational corporations have an ethical obligation to eliminate sweatshop labor?
In addition to millions of men and women, many of the children who are forced to work do so in "sweatshops," i.e., factories where manual workers are employed "at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions" (dictionary.com). In modern society, the apparel industry is booming and goods are in high demand with the average American purchasing eight pairs of shoes and 68 pieces of clothing per year (Chau, 2012). In order to control costs and meet the demands, large companies frequently contract with manufacturers in underdeveloped countries around the world to produce these garments (Chau, 2012). These manufacturing jobs are frequently in high demand by the citizens in these under developed countries because these jobs pay more than agriculture or service jobs (Kristof, 2009). Thus, the tensions between economic factors that go into producing goods at affordable retails prices and the cost incurred by the labor force in mostly underdeveloped countries contribute to the persistent existence of sweatshop labor. For a corporate officer, knowing how poverty impacts individuals and balancing the marketplace expectations of maximizing profit is challenging (Wong, 2013). It begs the question, do multinational corporations have an ethical obligation to eliminate sweatshop labor?