Child labor continues to be a public health
problem worldwide. Several studies have
focused on the health status of working
children and the effects of child labor on
their psychological development and
educational attainment. These studies
have highlighted the effects of child labor.
Perception and practice of child labor among
parents of school-aged children in Ibadan,
southwest Nigeria.
Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in an urban community in
Ibadan, southwest Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to parents of
school-aged children.
Results A total of 473 parents were interviewed. They were aged between 23 and
56 years, mean 37.9 years. Thirty-nine per cent of parents indicated that they
thought their school-aged children should work. More women than men, those
from polygamous homes and those with lower educational status held this view.
Reasons given for wanting their children to work were to supplement family
income, 45%, to gain experience, 35% and to help in family business, 10%.
Perception and practice of child labor among
parents of school-aged children in Ibadan,
southwest Nigeria.
Parental factors associated with practice of child labor were
polygamous marriage, low educational status, unskilled or partly
skilled occupation and large family size. Seventeen per cent of
parents with working children were not satisfied with their
children’s work conditions and complained of low earnings, long
working hours, work on school days and unsafe work
environment. Measures suggested to control child labor include
addressing the issue of household poverty, public enlightenment
about the ills of child labor and free education up to junior
secondary level.
Perception and practice of child labor among
parents of school-aged children in Ibadan,
southwest Nigeria.
The phenomenon of child labor is thought to be driven by poverty
which is believed to be the root cause. The dynamics of child labor in
the community involves parents, employers and the children
themselves. Published works on child labor comprise mainly of
surveys among working children. Some studies have focused on
children’s views of child Labor, but few have reported parents’ views.
While some studies suggest that many children work willingly, others
report that children took up economic activities at the instance of
their parents. The role of parents was highlighted in a school-based
study in Ibadan which reported that 81% of working children
indicated that it was their parents’ idea that they should work.
Therefore, any intervention to control this problem must take
cognizance of the role of parents, for many of whom child labor
constitutes a source of much needed extra income.
Perceptions of child labor among
working children in Ibadan, Nigeria.
The adverse effects of child labor on the children’s psychological
development continue to raise concerns about this public health
problem worldwide. Several views have been presented by child health
authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international
agencies. Few studies have focused on the children themselves. This
study sought to determine working children’s perspective of child labor,
its benefits and disadvantages and the working children’s perceptions of
themselves, and their aspirations for the future.
Perceptions of child labor among
working children in Ibadan, Nigeria.
A cross-sectional study was carried out among working children in a large market
in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to all
consenting children.
Results A total of 225 children, 132 females and 93 males, participated in the
survey. Their age range was 8–17 years. A total of 103 respondents (46%) were
currently in school while 117 (52%) were out of school. Five respondents (2%)
had never attended school. A total of 104 (46%) thought that children should not
work. However, when asked about the benefits of working, 81 working children
(36%) felt that work provided a source of income for them, 52 (23%) indicated
that it was a way of helping their parents and 39 (17%) thought it was part of
their training to be responsible adults. Bad company, ill health and road traffic
accidents were the perceived ill effects of child labor. The majority of the children
interviewed were aspiring towards artisan trades and very few towards
professional or office jobs. A total of 106 (47%) children perceived themselves as
less fortunate than their peers. Fifty-five children (24%) thought that child
labor was a sign of deprivation .
Perceptions of child labor among
working children in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Child labor has been the subject of public health
discourse especially in countries with poor economies.
Some authorities have distinguished between
child labor and child work, where child work is
considered to be part of the children’s training to
be responsible adults and child labor is thought
to be exploitative . In the traditional
Nigerian setting, child work is regarded as training
critical to healthy social and moral upbringing of
the child. In recent times, however, there has been changes in the
nature and scope of work that children do.
Asthenopia (eyestrain) in working
children of gem-polishing
industries.
Child labor is among one of the major problems of developing
countries today. According to ILO estimates, there are 351.7
million economically active children in the world (210.8 million
aged between 5 and 14 and 140.9 million aged 15 to 17). Nearly
170 million of these children are involved in hazardous work (111
million aged 5_14; 59 million aged 15_17; The Global
Occupational Health Network, 2005). In India, according to 1991
census, out of a total population of 838.6 million, working children
were 11.28 million, which was 1.34% of the total population.
Though there has been a decline both in absolute numbers as well
as in percentage terms over a decade still the numbers are
considerable (Ministry of Labor, 2002).
Asthenopia (eyestrain) in working
children of gem-polishing
industries.
The informal economy harbors most child labor and since it is
not recognized or protected under the legal and regulatory
frameworks, informal workers have a high degree of
vulnerability. The informal economy is spread across all
economic sectors and may be closely linked to formal sector
production, for example, in situations where formal sectors
outsource work to the informal economy (International Labor
Organization, 2002). Working children are exposed to toxic and
deadly chemicals in workplaces. Besides, hard labor leads
to the deformation of young bodies. Young workers, at the
same time, are under constant physical, intellectual, and
emotional stress. Moreover, most of them experience verbal
and physical abuse (International Labor Organization, 2002).
Asthenopia (eyestrain) in working
children of gem-polishing
industries.
The gem-polishing industry at Jaipur, India, is an
informal sector industry, which employs substantial
proportion of children. The unofficial figure gathered
from the gem-polishing unit owners suggest that
approximately 0.2 million people are employed in this
industry of which about 20,000 are children. In this
industry, the waste materials of organized sectors are
purchased by the parents as raw material for the cottage
industry and which is then passed through various
processes to make a final product to be sold in the market.
Labor Market Integration and Its Effect on Child Labor
The issues of child labor, its causes and potential remedies have received
considerable attention in academia and features prominently in the policy
papers of pertinent institutions such as the United Nations and the World
Bank.1 This note looks at how international labor market integration
affects child labor.
Labor Market Integration and Its Effect on Child Labor
The proposed framework for the analysis is a two-country version of the
basic model proposed in the seminal paper by Basu and Van (1998) which
has been quite influential in the academic discussion of the economics of
child labor and of related policies.
Labor Market Integration and Its Effect on Child Labor
1For a general survey covering the wide spectrum of issues related to child
labor, see Edmonds (2008). A narrower account of theoretical and
empirical work on the economics of child labor is provided by Basu (1999).
M. Gärtner (*) Institute of Economics, School of Economics and Political
Science, University of St. Gallen, Bodanstrasse 1, 9000 St. Gallen,
Switzerland e-mail: manfred.gaertner@unisg.ch
The emotional labor of caring about looked-after children
This paper is an exploration of data collected as part of a study looking at the
participation of looked-after children in decision-making processes in an
English context. Although the research was principally interested in decisionmaking processes from the child’s perspective, it was recognized that the
addition of the social worker’s voice offered further contextual richness in
shedding light on the world of the looked-after child and the procedures that
determine the way in which decisions are made about their present and
future.
The emotional labor of caring about looked-after children
Social workers are responsible for the initial assessment and ongoing
monitoring and evaluation of the child’s progress and development
(Department of Health 1989). They are also the gatekeepers of the child’s
progress throughout their time in the care of the local authority. They are
required to help looked after children achieve their potential and to assist
them in their recovery from whatever traumas precipitated the reception
into care.
The emotional labor of caring about looked-after children
The emotional needs of the social worker were an important
factor to be taken into account when considering the development
of effective relationships with looked-after children. Furthermore,
I wanted to investigate if addressing these needs would facilitate a
more participative and collaborative decision-making process that
was enriching for both social worker and child.
Assembling Webs of Support: Child Domestic Workers in India
Ethnographic and qualitative interview data with Muslim child domestic
workers, their families and employers to investigate the social ties
between young workers and their employers. Our analysis shows that
working-class families use children’s domestic work with middle-class
families as part of a web of resources to protect them from economic
shocks and to enable them to afford to meet the cost of social obligations.
We show that in this particular context, a town in Uttar Pradesh in north
India, hiring domestic workers locks employers into relations of social
obligation with their employees and their families.
Assembling Webs of Support: Child Domestic Workers in India
Our study focuses specifically on Muslim households. The
research was carried out by qualitative semi-structured interviews
with six child domestic workers, their families and employers,
supplemented by ethnographic data, conducted in the main town
of a district in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. The ethnographic data
consisted of field notes of observation, and conversations with
both participants and non participants in employers’ homes and
the wider neighborhood. The analysis offered in this paper draws
on the entire corpus of data. The study participants were
identified from an initial contact with one family’s domestic
worker whose daughter was herself a domestic worker.
Assembling Webs of Support: Child Domestic Workers in India
The work that girls do in their employer’s homes is sweeping and washing the
floors, dusting surfaces and washing dishes. Generally, other household tasks are
done by the adult women in the household. Childcare is done by the child’s
mother and other women relatives. If a worker does not come to work then her
tasks are left until her return, with the exception of washing dishes as this has to
be done every day. The tasks that girls have to do in their employer’s homes are
rather limited. The majority of tasks are done in these middle-class homes, as
they are in working-class homes, by the daughter-in-law (who generally lives with
her husband’s mother) and unmarried daughters if they are not in school.
Perception and practice of child labor among. Ibadan, Nigeria : 304–308.
Gärtner, Manfred. Labor Market Integration and Its Effect. Gallen, Switzerland: 2011.
165–170.
Perceptions of child labor among. Ibadan, Nigeria: Blackwell Publishing Ltd,,
2006. 281–286.
Saha, Asim. Asthenopia (eyestrain) in working. Jaipur, India,
The emotional labor of caring about looked-after children. Lecturer, University of
Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, UK: 2010. pp 483–491 .
Wasiuzzaman, Shaziah. Assembling Webs of Support: Child. 24. London, UK:
CHILDREN & SOCIETY, 2010. 282–292 .