The appeal of the sweatshop
This beautifully shot photostory isn't strictly about sweatshops, but it might as well be. The women who work as porters in Ghana's city markets must endure: Long hours Backbreaking physical labour Low pay Living in cramped slum conditions Moving from a village where there's food to share, to the city where you starve if you have no money Sounds terrible, right? And yet: People are doing it voluntarily It lets them build up savings They can reinvest those savings in a business, or in going home to start a family It is being used to finance their own or their children's education, so the next generation won't have to do the same Nobody is idealising this lifestyle. It's hard work, I wouldn't want to do it, and at least one of the women in the story who has left the job is glad to be out of it. There is an element of randomness, and if you have no money one day, nobody is going to feed you. But it's more dangerous to idealise the alternat...