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Working flat out - the child labour behind your Egyptian cotton sheets
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by generaldecay | June 8, 2008 at 07:21 am
898 views | 36 Recommendations | 31 comments
They work 10-hour shifts in 40C heat for 20 pence a day. Their job? Picking the cotton that makes the world's finest bed linen.
The musky scent of cheap patchouli rises from a cracked clay incense burner in the tiny courtyard of Shaban Abdulal Zarhel's decrepit mud and brick home. In the corner, next to the scraggly livestock, his wife, clad from head to toe in a sombre black burka, squats on the floor, smearing the deepest indigo dye on her youngest son's forehead. Alongside, her four other children sleep off their relentless morning labour in the fields. By 2pm, after a meagre meal of rice and flatbread, they will return to the boiling heat of the meadows.
This piece reminds for the second time today or how lucky I am.
Whoever says slavery is dead is very much mistaken.
For the children here, education is a luxury their parents cannot afford. Instead their days are regulated by the harvests: radishes in winter, onions in spring, and Egyptian cotton in summer and autumn. In the next month the fields that cling to the banks of the Nile will be full of children working the cotton for up to 10 hours a day. Perhaps most alarming is the nature of their work – removing the bollworm, the cotton farmers' nemesis, and handling plants drenched in pesticides. Accurate health studies are thin on the ground here, but many of the children complain of breathing difficulties at the height of summer.
According to most NGOs, eradicating child labour in agriculture in Egypt would be impossible, as it is traditionally an issue between families. But our investigation in the Nile Valley has found that the children are more likely to be victims of modern-day gangmasters, who recruit them from impoverished families to work the fields from dawn until dusk.
I'm glad to say that I've never slept on Egyptian cotton sheets.
In the west, Egyptian cotton has become a byword for luxury. No five-star hotel in central London or downtown Manhattan is complete without starched white sheets from the Nile Valley on its beds. Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Habitat, Ikea, even Tesco now carry luxury Egyptian cotton ranges. Then there are the ubiquitous Egyptian cotton towels. In Britain alone the cotton business, from sheets to high street clothing, is worth billions.
Although I know that the clothes I'm wearing right now were probably made by children somewhere, and I hate that.
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Recommendations (36)
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at 07:30 on June 8th, 2008
If anyone is interested in learning more about child labour, here are some links:
http://projectmala.org/uk/sponsorchild.htm
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/100044/child_sponsorship.html
http://www.globalfundforchildren.org
http://www.plan-uk.org/becomeasponsor/
There are, of course, many other organisations also.
at 07:49 on June 8th, 2008
There's usually a long, unhappy story behind cheap department-store products. I'm really glad you posted this.
at 07:53 on June 8th, 2008
Yes, such item are cheap for a reason.
Thanks for the GS, Jordan.
at 08:14 on June 8th, 2008
and anything made in china as well. this is what i remember from watching a PBS program "Independent Lens: China Blue"--
they are "tween" girls from poor rural villages moving into urban centers and factory centers near big cities and work for 14 or 16 hrs a day, 6 days a week. and 20 hrs or non stop for days if there's a order to finish. and they get 0 over time. when one rural girl (age 15) first got to the so-called housing that the factory provides (a small bare bedroom with 5 other girls), she commented how happy and excited she was to have a washroom and running water all to herself and 5 her roommates. and it was a dirty washroom, black murk everywhere...
anyone interested should watch it.
at 12:20 on June 8th, 2008
Justin, thank you for this. I'll look for it.
at 08:54 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 08:55 on June 8th, 2008
Like something out of Charles Dickens. Thx for sharing.
at 10:44 on June 8th, 2008
James thanks for the GS and the comment. It is like something out of Dickens, but infinitily more sinister.
at 09:32 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, Thanks for the report, it helps to raise awareness of realities many would rather not know. I, like you, am sure I have bought clothes made at the hands of children and it is not a good feeling. Your links to more information is appreciated. Good article.
at 10:46 on June 8th, 2008
David, you're welcome, and thanks for the GS.
I'm sure there are few of us who haven't bought clothes made by children and it's not a good feeling. Shops should really be made to disclose who makes their products and where they are made. On the washing instructions label, for example: this was made by XXX, aged 11, China.
at 10:07 on June 8th, 2008
Generaldecay, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 10:46 on June 8th, 2008
Thank you for the GS, Karen.
at 10:23 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, I like this story, darned good stuff.
at 10:49 on June 8th, 2008
Thank you for the GS, Pep.
at 10:29 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, very few people consider ethical issues when they purchase their groceries, or soccer balls or surgical instruments or carpets...i am referring to the latter three labour-intensive items that are made in my country - pakistan - and where children are employed. they are also employed in many other works for purely economic reasons in most poor countries. what is the way out?
at 10:56 on June 8th, 2008
Shocking, Rumana. I think the first approach has to be accountability by the sellers.
In Europe, all of our food products have to have the country of source, country of packaging etc on a label. Now, this system is often circumvented but I believe the EU is trying to make the system more expedient. I think it should be extended, however, to all consumer products, and to the world over. Where the product was made, how it was made etc. Many producers take great pains to tell you about their 'handmade original' products, so why not ask the same of mass-produced items? I think we need transparency and accountability in this regard.
Also, I think we need more sanctions in the west for traders who acquire their goods from places which use child labour. Why do they get away with it? Investigate, prosecute, and introduce legislation that prohibits it.
Both suggestions are likely to be unrealistic, of course, but we have to start seriously thinking about what to do.
at 11:07 on June 8th, 2008
Oh my Martha Stewart! It's cool to object, but what's the alternative? Buy no clothes, sheets or towels? And those children: work or starve? The pennies they make in those countries have a different purchasing power than we are used to. And this all goes down to the Free Trade agreements, Nafta, WTO, etc. There's a lot more involved than simple boycotts or info on who makes these clothes, etc.
at 11:52 on June 8th, 2008
Maybe if they didn't have child labor, the good wouldn't be so cheap, and so many American companies wouldn't be outsourcing. Then maybe we could bring jobs back home to America, which actually has worker safety requirements, no child labor allowed, and oh yea, quality control.
As much as I can, I'm boycotting products from China. I'm sick of enabling child labor, sweatshops, and both dirty and dangerous products.
"Made in America" is a label that I look for.
at 12:07 on June 8th, 2008
Pep, yes, companies wouldn't be outsourcing if it wasn't so cheap to do so. So, yes, products would not be so cheap to the consumer but there are more important issues at stake.
Do you get many 'Made in America' products any more? You certainly don't get many 'Made in Ireland' (where I'm from) products or 'Made in England' (where I live) products apart from traditional items. I look out for such labels too.
at 12:16 on June 8th, 2008
It's hard work to find something made here in America these days. China, China, China. etc. I've walked away from sales with deep discounts on attractive goods because....I'm boycotting.
at 12:18 on June 8th, 2008
That's what I thought - same here.
at 12:12 on June 8th, 2008
'Oh my Martha Stewart'?! I don't even know what that means, but I can tell it's completely unnecessary and baiting comment.
It's not 'cool' to object, it's important and essential to object, and to try to make this world a better place! There are alternatives - there are always alternatives. One, produce products in the west where they are being sold. Two, provide education and better lives for these children so they don't have to work for 20p a day for the rest of their lives. And I know there's a lot more involved that information, but it's a factor in the issue. These companies are not transparent, and that is one of the major problems.
May I suggest that it's not 'cool' to bury your head in the sand just to give yourself an easier life?
at 12:24 on June 8th, 2008
Mmmm....Martha Stewart has goods made overseas, including her K-Mart "Egyptian cotton" towels, etc. So how does she figure into this except as yet another example of exploiting overseas child labor?
at 14:06 on June 8th, 2008
Exactly! and I love Egyptian cotton. still.... it is easy to write: boycott, do something, but NOT so easy to get it done. I boycot too. but even in the thrift stores just about everything is made in China.
This whole dilemma comes down to greed, doesn't it? The designers' greed to get more profits by out-sourcing to the cheapest labor. and when you figure in the costs of shipping both ways, building factories (sweatshops?), etc. lord, the labor has to be cheap. And the mega-stores' and corporations' greed, etc.
I think what you have to do to get actual change is complain to the mega-stores like WalMart, and to the designers, like Martha, White Stag, Naturalizer, etc., etc. that you want items made in USA and not by children or poorly paid laborers. But you are also going to have to indicate you are willing to pay a higher price for the better quality not made by children. and that you will chose not to buy these products made by kids. Well, you get the idea. But how does one know which is which? And who will be the watchguard?
I guess people who may have visited hotels that use Egyptian cotton are going to tell them they don't want those? I don't think so.
Made in the USA used to stand for high quality. Illegal immigrants became a target for sweatshops. And I guess things deteriorated from there.
at 11:37 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 12:07 on June 8th, 2008
Caoimhin, thank you for the GS.
at 13:06 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, I like this story. It's good stuff. We need to keep reminding ourselves why some clothes are so cheap
at 13:09 on June 8th, 2008
LotusFlower, thank you for the GS.
Yes, we must, and we must not stop trying to do something about it.
at 20:03 on June 8th, 2008
generaldecay, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 23:13 on June 8th, 2008
Thank you NowSocial.