The Chilling Face of Child Labor - Loss of Life, Limb & Innocence

Saturday, February 19, 2011

While headlines about child labor still make the press today and the problem has anything But disappeared, it's a tough topic to tackle. There are strong arguments made on both sides of the debate, and although the global consensus frowns on the use of child labor, nearly 250 million children under 14 are still clocking in - often full-time.

And while the passing of each year will also see the passing of some 22,000 children in work-related accidents, working conditions have improved dramatically over the past century. While the height of the Victorian and industrial Ages, the stakes were even higher.

Todays World News Headlines

As children headed off to work en masse in an effort to keep their families fed and with a roof over their head, as they kissed their mothers, hugged their fathers and waved good-bye to toddling brothers and sisters, elementary school children walked off to a day at work that could very well have been their last.

Every shift, they faced the inherent loss of life, limb and innocence.

Just over 100 years ago, children were clocking in at article numbers, filling occupations that even the hardiest of today's adult workforce would shudder at. Forget baby-sitting, dog-walking, lemonade stands or mowing lawns, in the Victorian Age, kids were tackling the world's dirtiest jobs...

Blacksmiths

Imagine an eight year old wielding an anvil... Running about in sweltering temperatures, surrounded by hot metal, flying sparks, raging fires and physical dangers from all around. If they managed to make it through their careers without dying on the job, there were still the risks of heavy metal poisoning, carbon monoxide poisoning, infrared radiation eye damage, hearing loss and other hazards to vocalize with.

Tinsmiths

While not quite as likely to fall prey to on the job accidents as blacksmiths were, tinsmiths were often exposed to needful amounts of asbestos, leading to the multitude of health risks asbestos exposure entails, together with the cancer mesothelioma.

Foundry Work

As a general rule, in today's gentle society, molten metals and small children just don't mix. Not so back in the day... High temperatures, dangerous substances, airborne contaminates, molten metal, deafening noise and dangerous tool were just a few of the "perks" enjoyed by children who in today's society wouldn't even be old adequate to get their Learner's Permits!

Glass Factories

Heat, glare, glass, heavy equipment, gases, smoke, arsenic, cuts, lead poisoning... Not a pleasant line up at all. However, countless women and children slaved away at Victorian era glass factories for mere pocket change. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that in 1840 (in the midst of the Victorian Age) tradesmen had an midpoint lifespan of 27 years and laborers and servants could expect an even briefer 22 years.

Cotton & Textile Mills

These occupations had inherent risks with heavy machinery and the risk of constant splinters in too often unshod wee feet. What few population understood at the time was that, at the same time, the constant breathing in of lint can lead to a fatal disease known as Brown Lung - a disease not really caused by the lint fiber, but bacteria that grows and feeds on it. Young girls were most often at risk in the Victorian age, but today there were 88 such deaths between 1990 and 1998 - most from yarn, thread and fabric industries.

Coal Mines and Fields

Coal mines and fields pose workers (both children and adults) with threats from every direction. Methane gas, floods, cave-ins, tool accidents, explosive gases, and of course, the infamous Black Lung, where coal dust accumulates in the lungs over the long term and leads to a estimate of respiratory problems and even death.

And this, my friends, is just a small sampling of the occupations held by children in the industrial Revolution. Other jobs included coopers, cobblers, lace making, and leatherworking - none of which you see high school kids flocking to in droves today.

However, the loss of life and limb aside, there was an additional one high price that working children had to pay: the loss of innocence. When you're working 90 or more hours each week, and school is a luxury afforded only to the most affluent of children, it was hard for kids to "act their age". One look at the children heading off to work in the pre-dawn hours might take a double-take. Are those seven and eight year olds, are tiny wee old men and women with circles under their eyes, whisper thin arms and legs and torn and tattered clothes?

Faced with these hardships, Victorian Age kids had no choice to grow up and grow up fast. They struggled to cram as much life into the few decades they had to look send to. All the hours away from the watchful eyes of mom and dad made it too easy to fall from the right and narrow and deep into a life of crime and mischief, fluctuating from petty theft to more serious offenses. wee boys and girls found escape in dangerous pastimes like gambling, stealing and - in more instances than anything would like to admit - prostitution. After all, many of these darling wee angels were already being taken advantage of by their bosses and coworkers - why not earn a shilling or two for what had already been forcibly taken from you?

The horrors these children faced are roughly impossible to comprehend, but fortunately, the problem became so glaring, so un-ignorable that population of affect were motivated to make a convert and the children of the world found a estimate of champions that pioneered their cause and worked tirelessly to enhance not only working conditions, but the legislation that allowed factories and industries to exploit the services of women and children and formed the basis for equality and occupational safety that have come to be the standards of today.

However, despite the leaps and bounds that have been made in the Child Labor arena, exploitation is still rampant, and far too many children have to leave their dreams of obtaining an schooling behind to pursue an vocation so that their families can survive. For more information on what you can do to help stop child labor, visit www.worlded.org for details on donating your time and service to a worthy cause...

The Chilling Face of Child Labor - Loss of Life, Limb & Innocence

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