There are very compelling reasons why buying shoes manufactured by sweatshop labour is still better than not buying them - you're giving someone paid employment that the wouldn't otherwise have had, and boycotting such products has been shown in the long run to have only negative economic consequences. Witness the recent discussions about 'Fair Trade' coffee and whether or not the benefits are passed on to growers as yet another example.
I don't do any ironing because I want to both save my time to do things I'd prefer - here I can afford to do that but in Australia I can't. I guess the point I poorly made was that, economically speaking, in the white western world the cost-benefit of domestic staff is not there - you would have to work much longer hours to afford to have someone do your ironing, cook your clothes and make your dinner. That's why you have kids :p
Here of course it's a different thing. You can afford to do all those things, but I still feel uneasy asking someone to make me tea. Yes, I know it's their job, and that they enjoy it, and that were it not for carrying cups of coffee up and down corridors they'd be living in abject povery on the outskirts of Manilla or something, but it still makes me feel uneasy!
But as X5 rightly points out, as long as you treat those who work with you and and for you with the respect they deserve, then nothing more can be expected of you.
I totally agree with what each of you are saying.
There are very compelling reasons why buying shoes manufactured by sweatshop labour is still better than not buying them - you're giving someone paid employment that the wouldn't otherwise have had, and boycotting such products has been shown in the long run to have only negative economic consequences. Witness the recent discussions about 'Fair Trade' coffee and whether or not the benefits are passed on to growers as yet another example.
I don't do any ironing because I want to both save my time to do things I'd prefer - here I can afford to do that but in Australia I can't. I guess the point I poorly made was that, economically speaking, in the white western world the cost-benefit of domestic staff is not there - you would have to work much longer hours to afford to have someone do your ironing, cook your clothes and make your dinner. That's why you have kids :p
Here of course it's a different thing. You can afford to do all those things, but I still feel uneasy asking someone to make me tea. Yes, I know it's their job, and that they enjoy it, and that were it not for carrying cups of coffee up and down corridors they'd be living in abject povery on the outskirts of Manilla or something, but it still makes me feel uneasy!
But as X5 rightly points out, as long as you treat those who work with you and and for you with the respect they deserve, then nothing more can be expected of you.