In America a full time job is a 40 hour week, with time and a half pay for any overtime hours. Our minimum wage in New York State is six dollars an hour, and that is soon to be raised to $6.75 an hour on January 1, 2006. We are provided, for the most part, with healthy and safe working environments. In Chinese society it is nothing like this. Since the difference between the rich and poor is a lot greater in China than it is here, many of the poor jump at the opportunity to work in a factory or sweatshop job. They are very low paying and are not provided with a safe and healthy environment to work in. Often times the terrible environment is accompanied with abuse provided by the managers. It is not getting any better either because
In most factories there are very high dust levels, excessive noise, and strong chemical odors in the air at all time. While everyone in these types of workplaces are treated unfairly, women are treated even worse. While hiring females, factory managers are much more selective than when it comes to hiring male workers. This is most evident when u look at a shocking statistic, the number of women in the workplace total a little less than half the number of men (Peters and Wolper). Most factories will only hire young women from the ages of 17 to 25, and after a few years they are fired and replaced with a younger group of girls (Dougherty). Chinese Labor Laws state that being prejudice towards pregnant women is illegal, yet once a woman becomes pregnant in these types of factories they are fired immediately (Mulan's Sisters). Once they work under such harsh conditions for a few years it is tough for them to work with any type of efficiency, which is why they don't work up into an older age. Getting the job is not the only problem associated with women in the workplace in China. Women for the most part take a lot more abuse during their work hours. They are not only verbally abused, women are often raped and beaten. While I have only mentioned poor working conditions there are some factories that treat their workers well and pay them decent wages. Some companies provide very good working conditions, and often add perks to the