Sweatshops

It believe it is difficult for me to separate my objective and emotional feelings about sweatshops because of the society I was raised in.  In our society, children are not permitted to work below a certain age without being highly regulated by the government.  Technically these are also the laws in many of the countries that hold the most child labor.  People argue that it is inhumane and unfair to make children work in these unfair conditions however part of the reason these conditions occur is because of the illegality of the action.  Put more simply, because of the cultural norms of children working at a younger age, it might be helpful for the governments of these countries to reform their rules so conditions and habits of these workers and owners can be improved.  Because of the grueling conditions families in places such as Pakistan can find themselves, it is sometimes absolutely necessary for children to step up and help support their families.  Here in the United States we are lucky enough where this rarely happens because of the limitations and rules we already have in place.  This gives us a very one sided view of so called 'child labor.'  I started working at the age of 11 to support myself and my own horse.  Even though I was doing this extracurricular activity for a hobby, people still called my parents cruel for letting me work all day in the heat of the summers and six feet of snow in the winter.  It didn't matter what the elements were or how tired I was, they were my responsibility and I was to do the work until they were sufficiently taken care of.  I see it in somewhat of the same way for child labor; the children have a responsibility to their parents if they are going to live under their roof to help support themselves.  It is just a different expectation than privileged countries have so it seems very jarring to think about.