Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:42:54.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child Workers, Globalization, and International Business Ethics: A Case Study in Brazil’s Export-Oriented Shoe Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

J. Lawrence French  and
Richard E. Wokutch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Disputes regarding the ethics of work by children have intensified in recent years, with little resolution. The impasses stem from failure to recognize the diverse forms of child work and a lack of empirical research regarding its causes and consequences. We report on data gathered in Brazil’s export-oriented shoe industry, which is notorious for the employment of children. Central findings are: 1) the causes of child work have less to do with backwardness and more to do with how shoe workers are integrated into the global order; 2) local employers and children regard this work as benign, but the U.S. government sees it as hazardous to children and unfair to U.S. producers; 3) efforts to remove children from the shoe industry have been frustrated by local resistance and raise ethical questions; and 4) in certain circumstances, efforts to eliminate hazards from the workplace are morally superior to campaigns to remove child workers from employment.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 615 - 640
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abreu, M., and Martinez, A.. 1996. “Olhares Sobre a Criança No Brasil: Perspectivas Históricas.” In Olhares Sobre a Criança No Brasil, ed. Rizzini, I.. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Universitária Santa Úrsula: 19–38.Google Scholar
Alam, S. 1999. “Efforts to Ban Goods Made by Children are Counterproductive.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press, 43–47.Google Scholar
Aries, P. 1962. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Basu, K. 1999. “International Labor Standards and Child Labor.” Challenge 42(5) (September–October): 80–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basu, K., and Van, P. H.. 1998. “The Economics of Child Labor.” American Economic Review 88(3): 412–26.Google Scholar
Becquele, A., and Myers, W.. 1995. First Things First in Child Labour: Eliminating Work Detrimental to Children. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1989. The Ethics of International Business. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1996. “Values in Tension: Ethics Away From Home.” Harvard Business Review 74(5) (September–October): 4–12.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Dunfee, T.. 1999. Ties that Bind: A Social Contract Approach to Business Ethics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Fensterseifer, J. 1995. O Complexo Calçadista em Perspectiva: Tecnologia e Competitividade. Porto Alegre, Brazil: Editora Ortiz.Google Scholar
Franca City Hall. 1999. City of Franca. Franca, Brazil: Gabinete do Prefeito.Google Scholar
French, J. L. 2002. “Adolescent Workers in Third World Export Industries: Attitudes of Young Brazilian Shoemakers.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 55(2): 308–23.Google Scholar
French, J. L., and Wokutch, R.. 2003. “Pro-Child Institute: Combating Child Labor through Collaborative Partnerships in the Brazilian Shoe Industry.” In Rising Above Sweatshops: Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges, ed. Hartman, L., Arnold, D., and Wokutch, R.. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 321–42.Google Scholar
Grootaert, C., and Kanbur, R.. 1995. “Child Labour: An Economic Perspective.” International Labour Review 134(2): 187–203.Google Scholar
Harkin, T. 1999. “The United States Should Ban Imports of Products Made by Children.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 38–47.Google Scholar
Hartman, L. P., Wokutch, R. E., and French, J. L.. 2003. “Adidas-Salomon: Child Labor and Health and Safety Initiatives in Vietnam and Brazil.” In Rising Above Sweatshops: Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges, ed. Hartman, L. P., Arnold, D. G., and Wokutch, R. E.. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 191–248.Google Scholar
Henn, S. 2003. “American Farmkids” (radio news story). Marketplace (January 24). Available at http://marketplace.publicradio.org/features/childlabor/.Google Scholar
Hobbs, S., McKechnie, J., and Lavalette, M.. 1999. Child Labor: A World History Companion. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Horn, P. 1994. Children’s Work and Welfare, 1780–1890. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. 1973. C138 Minimum Wage Convention 1973 http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm, accessed 18 August 2003.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. 2002. Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates of Child Labour. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Iovine, J. V. 1999. “Product Labeling Programs May Not Reduce Child Labor.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 82–85.Google Scholar
Lavalette, M. 1994. Child Employment in the Capitalist Labour Market. Aldershot, England: Avebury Press.Google Scholar
Lavalette, M. 1999. “The ‘New Sociology of Childhood’ and Child Labour.” In A Thing of the Past? Child Labour in Britain in the 19th and 20th Centuries, ed. Lavalette, M.. New York: St. Martins Press, 15–43.Google Scholar
Levison, D. 2000. “Children as Economic Agents.” Feminist Economics 6(1): 125–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Licursi, R. 1995. Trabalho Infantil em Franca. São Paulo: Editora Linhasgerais.Google Scholar
Madalena, M. 2000. Interview with Assistant Principal of João Marciano School, Franca, Brazil, (May 15).Google Scholar
Mortimer, J., and Finch, M.. 1996. Adolescents, Work, and Family. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Myers, W. 1989. “Urban Working Children: A Comparison of Four Surveys from South America.” International Labour Review 128(3): 321–35.Google Scholar
Myers, W. 1999. “Considering Child Labour.” Childhood 6(1): 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, W. 2001. “The Right Rights? Child Labor in a Globalizing World.” AAPSS Annals 575 (May): 38–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, A. R. 1999. “Sweatshops Often Benefit the Economies of Developing Nations.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 32–35.Google Scholar
Nader, R. 1996. “No Child Should Work.” USA Today (June 13): A7.Google Scholar
Nardinelli, C. 1990. Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Nichols, M. 1993. “Third-World Families at Work: Child Labor or Child Care?” Harvard Business Review 71(1) (January–February): 12–23.Google Scholar
Nieuwenhuys, O. 1994. Children’s Lifeworlds: Gender, Welfare and Labour in the Developing World. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nieuwenhuys, O. 1996. “The Paradox of Child Labor and Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 237–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlando Sentinel. 1995. “Latin Town’s Child Labor Tarnishing its Image” (September 10): A9.Google Scholar
Pizzo, A. 2002. Interview with Executive Director of Shoe Employers’ Association, Franca, Brazil (May 24).Google Scholar
Post, D. 2001. Children’s Work, Schooling, and Welfare in Latin America. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Rockwell, L. H. 1999. “Campaigns against Child Labor are Protectionist and Imperialistic.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press, 70–74.Google Scholar
Rodrigues, N. 1997. Interview with Human Resource Director of Samello, largest exporter in Franca. Franca, Brazil (April 17).Google Scholar
Ryan, T. 1999. “Sweatshops Must be Recognized as a Human Rights Violation.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 29–31.Google Scholar
Salazar, M., and Glasinovich, W., eds. 1998. Child Work and Education: Five Case Studies in Latin America. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, W., and Hartman, L. P.. 1999. “Sweatshop Ethics: Balancing Labor Rights with Economic Progress.” Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the International Association of Business and Society, Paris (June).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, M. 1999. Children’s Labor in Ethnic Businesses. Philadelphia. Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Stelzer, I. M. 1999. “Efforts to Reduce the Use of Sweatshops are Misguided.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 58–62.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
UNICEF. 1997. The State of the World’s Children 1997. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
USA Today. 1996. “Banning Imports Made by Child Labor Won’t Help Kids” (June 13): A7.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor. 1994. By the Sweat and Toil of Children. Volume I: The Use of Child Labor in U.S. Manufactured and Mined Imports. Washington: GPO.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor. 1997. By the Sweat and Toil of Children. Volume 4: Consumer Labels and Child Labor. Washington: GPO.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State. 1999. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1999: Brazil. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/377.htm, accessed July 17, 2003.Google Scholar
Weidenbaum, M. 1999. “A Defense of Sweatshops.” In Child Labor and Sweatshops, ed. Williams, M. E.. San Diego: Green Haven Press: 26–28.Google Scholar
White, B. 1994. “Children, Work, and Child Labor: Changing Responses to the Employment of Children.” Development and Change 25: 849–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, B. 1996. “Globalization and the Child Labour Problem.” Journal of International Development 8(6): 829–39.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, B. 1999. “Defining the Intolerable: Child Work, Global Standards, and Cultural Relativism,” Childhood 6(1): 133–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wokutch, R. E. 2000. “Child Labor: A Continuing Ethical Challenge of Globalization.” Paper presented at the International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics meetings, São Paulo, Brazil (July).Google Scholar
Woodhead, M. 1998. Children’s Perspectives on Their Working Lives. Stockholm: Radda Barnen.Google Scholar
Woodhead, M. 1999. “Combating Child Labour: Listen to What the Children Say.” Childhood 6(1): 27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar