CHILD LABOR IN MEXICO Jenna Paige Desjarlais, Amy Vegh, Gabriel Bautista

CHILD LABOR TODAY ■1 in 8 are working in Mexico. 31% work on farms, 25% work in commerce, 24% in service, 14% manufacturing, and 6% construction. ■3 million children between ages 5-17 are child laborers ■Child labor under the age of 14 is prohibited, but since there isn’t heavy federal supervision, there are 14 year olds that do still work.

BRICK BLOCK MAKING ■The people of Mexico mostly have houses of brick ■One of the jobs of children is to make the brick blocks ■They collect the clay that makes the brick, in containers. ■The children have to mix clay to make them ■They carry up to 5 bricks to the oven to bake them ■On a good day families can make 6 bricks; $1 per brick

CHILD LABOR IN BRITAIN ■ The children didn’t receive a choice to work or not ■Children were poorly educated some didn’t even know how to read or write ■Poor families relied on everyone to work to support themselves ■Children were perfect for work because their small size allowed them to do things full size adults can’t do ■Children were beaten and lived often short lives ■Pollution was heavy and affected the people of Britain immensely ■Food was given to the children as part of their wage ■Long hours ■Exposed to dangerous chemicals that got into their lungs ■Government dealt with Child Labor by creating unions and other groups to help the children in those situations

CHILD LABOR IN BRITAIN Family business received training in a trade and their work directly increased the productivity of the family hence the family’s income. Girls helped with dressmaking, hat making and button making while boys assisted with shoemaking, pottery making and horse shoeing. Although hours varied from trade to trade and family to family, children usually worked twelve hour per day with time out for meals and ea. These hours, moreover, were not regular over the year or consistent from day-to-day. The weather and family events affected the number of hours in a month children worked. This form of Child Labor was not viewed as cruel or abusive by society but was accepted as necessary for the survival of the family and development of the child

COMPARE AND CONTRAST There are many similarities Child Labor from the times of the Industrial Revolution and now that they both share. The children who are put into these situations often are all in for the same reason. It’s a common occurrence if a family is in debt or needs money to help provide for the family requiring the child to work at a young age. Children in Mexico and even in Britain worked under terrible working conditions that led to hazards that could affect the child’s life. The only major difference is that Child Labor is highly recognized by the people and governments which provides those children with a higher chance of leaving that behind and continuing onto a better path. I don’t think Child Labor has improved greatly but it has changed for the better. Stories of children who’ve experienced this are getting widely noticed and less children have to work in factories with extreme hazards surrounding them.

CONCLUSION Solutions to Deal With Child Labor ■Have more Federal Supervision to ensure children under 14 don’t work ■ Protest/ Petition for the government to have more strict rules on the age of work ■ Really educate yourself with what child labor is ad the affects ■ Support organizations helping raise money to decrease Child Labor by donating money and food ■ Go to a place with Child Labor to help them and experience their conditions to inspire yourself to start a campaign against it ■ Inform more people about the topic of Child Labor to make sure people are aware that this still occurs in our society