Child labour studio interview

Interviewer: Ally
Interviewee: Taz
Cameramen: Joe and Jake

1) Hi Im Ally and today I will be interviewing Taz on her opinions and

some of the history around child labour. So Taz, child labour is a big
issue and has been around for a while but when exactly did it start
becoming a problem?
- HI Ally, its a pleasure to be here making the issue of child labour
more well known to the public; the employment of children as wage
earners started in the 1700s.
2) What type of jobs did it start with?
- It started with factory jobs which had highly dangerous equipment
which could cause the children severe injurys which sometimes led
to death. The young children were expected to work 12-18 hours a
day, 6 days a week.
3) At what age were they expected to work?
- Their ages varied greatly but the majority of them were below the
ages of 7 many of them would seriously ill and would not be able to
attend schooling due to their long hours of work.
4) What kind of families did the children come from and what was the
working environment like in the factories?
- A lot of the children came from very poor families which is why their
children were sent off to work to help earn enough money to help
the large poor families that they came from. Many of the factories
were surrounded with barbed wiring to keep the children as the
environment was sometimes so horrific that they would try to
escape.
5) Why did no one try to prevent this happening and was none of the
public against the labour of such young children?
- Well a lot of people were very against this kind of cruelty to children
such as the church and labour groups and were outraged however
because of the time in which this was happening not much could
have been done to prevent it.
6) When did things change in Britain about child labour?
- Things only officially changed in 1938 when congress passed the fair
labour standards act which made the minimum working age in
Britain 16 years of age.
7) What about other countries were they still allowing child labour?
- Only in 1999 did other countries start to make a change in child
labour as that was when over 180 countries approved on an

international labour organisation to prevent and Raise awareness of

child labour.
8) Are there any other countries around that still use child labour?
- Countries like Sudan, Pakistan and Zimbabwe are three of the top 10
worst countries known for still using child labour.
9) Why is it still around in these countries and can nothing be done to
prevent the use of child labour completely?
- Baring in mind that these are 3rd world countries and that things
havent changed much in the way the run things also as well as
being known for child labour they are also extremely dangerous
place and the crime rate is very high there. Things are being done to
try to prevent things but it does take time and can cause wars in
some circumstances.
10)
And what is your personal opinion on child labour and how do
you feel about it still being around to this day?
- I feel like child labour is a cruel concept and should be stopped
immediately as I feel children should go through the education
system before they go to work as they have to time prepare
themselves for the working world and will be able to cope with it all
efficiently.