Additionally, standards differ from country to country. The American minimum wage would be considered a princely sum in Malaysia, for example. In fact, some experts say Western campaigns against low-wage factories overseas mostly benefit the American labor movement and do more harm than good in poor countries by draining off scarce jobs and choking off investment.
Mrs. Gifford noted that it is legal for 14-year-olds to work in Honduras, where the minimum wage is 31 cents an hour. And a World Bank report released this month concluded that more than one-fifth of the world's population lives on less than $1 a day. "I can and will fight to change things here, but I can't change laws in other countries," she said.
Traditionally, manufacturers and retailers, not celebrities, have been the target of labor activists.
The Gap, Lands' End and several other major retailers became more vigilant about conditions in the factories that produce apparel for them after the Labor Department began a campaign three years ago to weed out sweatshops in the United States and discourage child labor abroad. The department has scheduled hearings tomorrow on the child-labor issue.