The Concept Of Girlhood In The Modern

World Essay, Research Paper

THE GIRL-CHILD IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The girl-child is one of, if not the most, exploitable segments of the world’s population. Children in general because of their dependence upon adults and their natural naivet. due to lack of life experience. In the context of our new global economy, child labor issues are becoming very prevalent and their discussion very necessary. The tragedy of the child labor issues is that the multinational corporations created within the global economy are not able to see the damage they cause in other countries. Also, modern corporate organization doesn’t require the business leaders to view the conditions of their employees, personally, and within the workplace. Children and women are heavily exploited within this structure because of poverty, desperation, and survival. Girls are at the bottom of this list. Women have the advantage of age in some instance, but girls are sometimes left to fend for themselves because of orphanhood or a family caretaker status. This dilemma is invisible to most people, even the occurrences within the United States are left unknown about by those in the official class system. The girls exploited have been paid in an economic category far below what is considered lower class or even impoverished. This type of issue is a personal one and therefore cannot be fully explained or understood through statistics and purely analytical data. The experience of these girls individually is just as important as their numbers.

Some of the regions that are affected by this phenomenon are closely related to the United States. Latin America has experienced a significant boost in exploitable labor schemes targeted at young girls. There are factory jobs popularly named “maquilas”. In these maquilas, girls from the ages of 7-18 work horrendous 16-24 hour days with short or no breaks, unprovided health care, and no protection from the men who own or run the factories NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was a major determinant for the current economic crisis in Latin America. Foreign companies pay ridiculously low wages and do almost nothing to protect their workers. Girls, and children in general, are not allowed public education for fear it will take away from their labor. Even areas with unions still experience exploitative labor and abject poverty. These types of work environments also exist in significant numbers in Asia, and surprisingly America. Multinational companies, such as Nike and Gap, use child labor, especially girl’s labor, to produce their very popular and trendy clothing. Many large businesses in he US, Europe, and Asia seek laborers in third world countries.

With growing multinational companies, international tourism, and global exchanges of people and ideas, more individuals are going to foreign lands to live. People, mostly men, are doing business in third world countries. Prostitution of girls and children is directly related to foreign businessmen and tourism. In Asia,1992 and 1994, 160 foreigners were arrested for sexual abuse of children through prostitution. 25% were American, 18% German, and 12% British.(Taken from Internet article “ultimate abuse” – enclosed) These were not necessarily pedophiles, just people taking of advantage of the prostitution rings that are growing into lucrative businesses because of foreign investment. This remains invisible to those who live in the world of the perpetrators.

These problems will persist for many years to come because of the nature of huge multi-national companies. They are able to enter areas and never see the consequences. They do not only affect labor, but the whole community. These areas are usually already impoverished. The factories provide jobs for the girls to supplement the family. There are so many other systems of exploiting young girls in many countries. In parts of South Asia, a system of bonding children out for loans is common. The debt is extended for a long period because it is built upon by accrued expenses and unjust practices by the debtors. Girls are used more often than boys because of their culturally inferior status, which is common amongst many societies. This common position of inferiority makes the girl-child more exploitable than other members of society. The global economy is encouraging and supporting non-personal business ethics abroad.. Companies should treat their foreign employees the same as their domestic ones. If a US or Japanese corporation provides sanitary work conditions, and wages that will provide a sufficient living and economic advancement for domestic employees, the same should be applied to foreign ones. Corporate watchdogs should receive more international governmental and political support.

The key to diminishing the exploitation of girls worldwide is to give them a voice. Girls are many times seen as the property of their parent or family to be given away to another family, or man, through marriage; having no individual self-identity. There are already initiatives to give children in general, voices. They are organized, regionally and globally. In Peru, a 15 year old girl named Patricia is heading a national child worker movement. Other NGO’s are promoting initiatives to organize and educate children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international and effective watchdog for children and girls. International education on these issue