I don't automatically feel outrage when I hear about someone aspiring to work a sewing machine. But when I hear about the conditions, and how many hours are worked, then the outrage comes. After all, with that many hours bent over, sitting on the floor, the body is put under a lot of stress it wasn't evolved to handle. That young girl may become crippled by her work and be unable to continue. At that point, will her job support her disability? I think not. And when that happens, will her outcome be better than the outcome of women who didn't have the benefit of her job? Probably not. The fact is that if and when this girl slows down at her work, she will be replaced by someone faster, and tossed to the curb, at which point she may or may not be sufficiently viable to marry a rickshaw operator.
So I would add:
4. What are the 'first world' governments' roles?
To encourage international trade for goods that are generated from countries with healthy labor laws. The first round of countries that went through the Industrial Revolution didn't have the (potential) benefit of other, post-industrial countries that could at least provide outside pressure to prevent corporations from exploiting people.
Unfortunately that potential benefit is a drawback more often than not, because there isn't strong international pressure to enact good labor laws. When such an environment doesn't exist, it is difficult for a country to bootstrap its own laws, because such laws may raise the price of goods relative to other countries.
There should be an environment where a country without labor protections finds that it can't trade with other countries.
Of course such an international environment alone won't guarantee improvements. But it's a start. In this age of multinational corporations, its an enormous form of leverage for a company to say, "Oh, you're forcing me to pay $10 an hour? I'll just take my factory and go over here..." Such leverage can be reversed: "Oh, your labor laws don't meet U.N. standards? We'll move our money over here..."
So I would add:
4. What are the 'first world' governments' roles?
To encourage international trade for goods that are generated from countries with healthy labor laws. The first round of countries that went through the Industrial Revolution didn't have the (potential) benefit of other, post-industrial countries that could at least provide outside pressure to prevent corporations from exploiting people.
Unfortunately that potential benefit is a drawback more often than not, because there isn't strong international pressure to enact good labor laws. When such an environment doesn't exist, it is difficult for a country to bootstrap its own laws, because such laws may raise the price of goods relative to other countries.
There should be an environment where a country without labor protections finds that it can't trade with other countries.
Of course such an international environment alone won't guarantee improvements. But it's a start. In this age of multinational corporations, its an enormous form of leverage for a company to say, "Oh, you're forcing me to pay $10 an hour? I'll just take my factory and go over here..." Such leverage can be reversed: "Oh, your labor laws don't meet U.N. standards? We'll move our money over here..."