There Really is a "GAP"

First the bare facts. The Gap clothing chain has withdrawn a line of embroidered blouses and ordered an internal investigation. after a news report alleged that the garments were stitched by children in a Delhi sweatshop. According to an investigative piece penned by a journalist of Britain's "Observer" newspaper, children between 10 and 13 worked in conditions "close to slavery" in the factory producing blouses bearing Gap labels. Gap, which has 200 of its 2,000 suppliers in India, was quick to order a recall and an initiate an investigation, while calling a meeting with suppliers to reiterate its no-tolerance policy on child labor.

Now the reality. In the US, a child found to be illegally employed would be rescued by the Department of Child Welfare and placed in an orphanage or a foster home. In India - and dozen's of developing countries in the world - child welfare, paid for by the government, is a luxury they can ill afford - however much they would desire to. Yes there are orphanages, but most of them are grossly overcrowded.

It is largely a matter of economics and scale. India's GDP is a fraction of that of the USA, but it has five times the number of children under 18. In fact, 38.5 million of India's population is under 15. To provide a similar standard of child welfare as Western countries, India would need to spend a greater proportion of its GDP than the US allocates for its entire Health and Education departments.

So what will happen to those children who occasioned a sense of horror and outrage in GAP? (Personally, I find it hard to believe that GAP was not aware of the conditions under which some of their outsourced clothing was being produced. If it wasn't for the exposure in the press, business would probably have carried on as usual. It's all about profits, after all). The factory that employed them will very likely shut down and they will be sent home.