Olivia Given

About the author: Olivia Given recently graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She is an organizing committee member of the Youth Section of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Economic globalization—the expansion of corporate power to multinational domains—has led to the reemergence of sweatshops in the latter twentieth century. Many garment-industry companies boost their own profits by using manufacturers that discourage collective bargaining, pay low wages, and offer little or no employee benefits. These manufacturers typically prefer to hire young, uneducated women who work long hours to support their families. Sweatshop workers face myriad abuses, including verbal abuse, sexual harassment, physical punishment, and forced overtime. Because corporations are more interested in increasing profits than in ensuring workers' rights, anti-sweatshop measures have largely not been effective at curbing the exploitation...