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Right Against Economic Exploitation—Child Labour

Asha Bajpai

in Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice

This chapter describes the rights against child labour. Any kind of work that places a child at risk is child labour. Poverty, parental illiteracy and ignorance, the tradition of making children ... More

This chapter describes the rights against child labour. Any kind of work that places a child at risk is child labour. Poverty, parental illiteracy and ignorance, the tradition of making children learn family skills, absence of universal compulsory primary education, non-availability of and non-accessibility to schools, and apathy of trade unions are some of the causes that result in child labour. Legislation to control and regulate child labour has existed in India for several decades. The National Policy on Child Labour is a landmark endeavour towards the progressive elimination of child labour in India. Laws that offer legal protection to bonded child labourers have been reported in this chapter. Moreover, some significant court rulings linked to bonded child labour have also been covered. It is clear that any programme of eliminating child labour has to provide reasonable alternatives for the child workers it ousts out of the workplace they had entered due to extreme poverty.Less

International Children’s Rights Law and Child Labour

Gurchathen S. Sanghera

in Child Labour in India: Globalization, Power, and the Politics of International Children's Rights

This chapter examines the emergence of children’s rights at the international level and the child labour issue. It traces the emergence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ... More

This chapter examines the emergence of children’s rights at the international level and the child labour issue. It traces the emergence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its significance. A key argument developed in this chapter is how the Convention globalizes a Northern ideology of childhood that never captures the diversity of what it is to be a child and children’s everyday lives across the globe. It is argued that the Convention has been used to reproduce particular hierarchies and structures of power between the North and South, because the blueprint that it sets for childhood, a Northern template, is rarely achievable by states in the South thus leaving them open to ‘moral condemnation’. The chapter then examines the complexities of child labour and the role of International Labour Organization (ILO) in addressing the problem.Less

Editor’s Introduction

Michael Lavalette (ed.)

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Michael Lavalette introduces the second section of this text, Child Labour in British History, by presenting the ways in which it deals with the changing nature and form of child employment ... More

Michael Lavalette introduces the second section of this text, Child Labour in British History, by presenting the ways in which it deals with the changing nature and form of child employment throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the reasons for the decline in child labour during this time.This introduction also recognises the section’s discussion of the criticism directed towards the older generations of historians for misrepresenting child labour during the Industrial Revolution and the proto-industrial period.Less

Child Labor and Schooling

Mouez Soussi and Donia Smaali Bouhlila

in The Tunisian Labor Market in an Era of Transition

This chapter provides evidence on the extent of child labor in Tunisia, its determinants and its impact on schooling. It shows that 5.87 percent of the target population are involved in work, a rate ... More

This chapter provides evidence on the extent of child labor in Tunisia, its determinants and its impact on schooling. It shows that 5.87 percent of the target population are involved in work, a rate which may increase in the future if policymakers and stakeholders do not take adequate measure to protect children’s rights to a decent life and better education. In this chapter, and using TLMPS data (2014), we show the “atypical” picture of Tunisia regarding this phenomenon. First, child labor is both rural and urban: the impact of poverty on child labor is more pronounced in urban areas than in rural ones. Second, most children are involved in the service sector and third, poverty does not explain child labor. We provide evidence that working-children are more likely to repeat school-grade and to lag-behind. Likewise, working-children are more at risk to drop out, with girls more affected than boys.Less

The Struggle against Child Labour

Rajesh Chakrabarti and Kaushiki Sanyal

in Shaping Policy in India: Alliance, Advocacy, Activism

This chapter covers the evolution of the Child Labour Bill up to the failed 2012 attempt. After surveying the definitions and extent of the malaise, it touches upon the various complex economic ... More

This chapter covers the evolution of the Child Labour Bill up to the failed 2012 attempt. After surveying the definitions and extent of the malaise, it touches upon the various complex economic issues, and summarizes the movement from Independence. The scattered attempts began to coalesce into a broad movement in the 1980s which the chapter captures through the lenses of two organizations—the Hyderabad-based MV Foundation and the Bachpan Bachao Andolan. MVF created a grass-root campaign to work with schools of Andhra Pradesh to help enrol child labourers. BBA organized a sustained effort through several high profile agitations using courts and streets including daring rescues from the circus industry and the organizing the highly visible Global March in 1998. The activism gathered momentum to culminate in a Bill in 2012 which failed to pass. A different version was later passed in 2015. The movement broadly conforms to the advocacy coalition framework.Less

The State as Parent? Youth Welfare and German Families

David F. Crew

in Germans on Welfare: From Weimar to Hitler

This chapter focuses on the children, young people, and families in Germany. There were two types of educative function that was repeatedly invoked by the Weimar youth welfare offices. The first one ... More

This chapter focuses on the children, young people, and families in Germany. There were two types of educative function that was repeatedly invoked by the Weimar youth welfare offices. The first one was correctional education. This was prescribed as part of a therapeutic measure. Correctional education drastically abridged parental, especially patriarchal, rights. Parents no longer determined how their children would be raised or what education they would receive. Parents lost the earnings that sons or daughters would otherwise have contributed to the family income. The second educative function was protective surveillance where the children received school health care. School health programs combined social with medical surveillance. The Weimar Republic enforced the 1903 Child Labor Law. It stood by this principle: work damaged children's health and interfered with their proper education. Two case histories are presented in this chapter to show how youth welfare work was ideally meant to function.Less

Editor’s Introduction

Michael Lavalette (ed.)

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

In this introduction to Part 1: The Theoretical Context of Child Labour Research, Michael Lavalette addresses the main trends in existing literature on child labour and the unanswered questions that ... More

In this introduction to Part 1: The Theoretical Context of Child Labour Research, Michael Lavalette addresses the main trends in existing literature on child labour and the unanswered questions that surround it. He foregrounds the discussion carried out in the following first two chapters, written by himself, and puts forward the aims and intentions of his argument regarding the recent sociological discussion of childhood and child exploitation.Less

The Changing Form of Child Labour circa 1880–1918: The Growth of ‘Out of School Work’

Michael Lavalette

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

This chapter, written by Michael Lavalette, presents interpretations for the decline of child labour in the period 1880-1920 and addresses the role of the state in the handling of child welfare. ... More

This chapter, written by Michael Lavalette, presents interpretations for the decline of child labour in the period 1880-1920 and addresses the role of the state in the handling of child welfare. Throughout the chapter, Lavallette stresses how dangerous it is to think that the issue of child labour is resolved. Instead, he emphasises the importance of recognising the ways that child labour and exploitation can be restructured and disguised in today’s society.Less

The problem that doesn’t exist?: Child labour in Britain, 1918–1970

Stephen Cunningham

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Chapter six, written by Stephen Cunningham, provides evidence of the extent and form of child labour in Britain between 1920 and 1970. It assesses the size of the child labour market during this ... More

Chapter six, written by Stephen Cunningham, provides evidence of the extent and form of child labour in Britain between 1920 and 1970. It assesses the size of the child labour market during this period by processing data found from Internal Home Office material and focuses in particular on the role of state officials in shaping government policy surrounding child labour laws. The chapter also investigates into the role of civil servants, politicians and the effect of recent sociological and historical interventions on the existence of child labour.Less

Conclusion: From Cruelty to Child Welfare

in The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America

This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the history of child protection in the U.S. during the Gilded Age. It discusses the evolution of anticruelty efforts from animal and child ... More

This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the history of child protection in the U.S. during the Gilded Age. It discusses the evolution of anticruelty efforts from animal and child protection to child welfare. It describes the organizations formed as a challenge to the principles of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the Horse Aid Society and the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). This chapter also discusses contemporary research indicating a link between violence toward animals and domestic abuse.Less

Bitter Cry of Progress

Vincent DiGirolamo

in Crying the News: A History of America's Newsboys

New laws call for new stories, and in the early 1900s those stories were increasingly told by muckraking journalists, documentary photographers, and social reformers. Upton Sinclair, Lewis Hine, Jane ... More

New laws call for new stories, and in the early 1900s those stories were increasingly told by muckraking journalists, documentary photographers, and social reformers. Upton Sinclair, Lewis Hine, Jane Addams, and many others focused on the evils of street work, including sexual bartering. But circulation managers professionalized and stepped up their newsboy welfare work. The proliferation of precociously cute newsboy images in advertisements and comic strips further neutralized reform efforts and legitimized newspapers’ use of child labor. Ethnic newspapers multiplied during this period and developed their own sales and distribution forces. Also propelling newspapers into the new century were automobiles, which presented newsboys with a new occupational hazard. Pushed and pulled by the commercial interests of publishers, and the social agendas of reformers, and the economic needs of their families, this generation of newsies rose up to assert their own vision of progress.Less

The ‘New Sociology of Childhood’ and Child Labour: Childhood, Children’s Rights and ‘Children’s Voice’

Michael Lavalette

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Chapter one, written by Michael Lavalette, engages with many of the themes of the so-called ‘new sociology of childhood’ and looks at the recent sociological discussion of the ‘social construction’ ... More

Chapter one, written by Michael Lavalette, engages with many of the themes of the so-called ‘new sociology of childhood’ and looks at the recent sociological discussion of the ‘social construction’ of childhood. The chapter addresses the ways in which the concept of childhood has changed throughout history and relates these changes to other developments in society. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the consequences for children once they have been ‘liberated’ from their childhood, and attempts to distinguish the difference between child employment and child exploitation, asking if the discussion surrounding child labour should really be a discussion of whether a child has the right to work.Less

Theorizing Children at Work: Family, State and Relations of Production in Historical Context

Michael Lavalette

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Chapter two, written by Michael Lavallette, focuses specifically on existing literature regarding child labour and the reasons they provide in order to explain the existence of child labour today. It ... More

Chapter two, written by Michael Lavallette, focuses specifically on existing literature regarding child labour and the reasons they provide in order to explain the existence of child labour today. It provides a historical context on the development of capitalism in Britain and makes a comment on how changes to production, family form and state social policy in the second half of the nineteenth century shaped the present form of child labour.Less

Editor’s Introduction

Michael Lavalette (ed.)

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Michael Lavalette introduces the third and final part of this text, titled ‘Contemporary Issues’. He states that part three deals with the on-going controversy of child labour and in particular ... More

Michael Lavalette introduces the third and final part of this text, titled ‘Contemporary Issues’. He states that part three deals with the on-going controversy of child labour and in particular assesses the extent and form of child labour in Britain compared to in the USA, therefore providing an analysis of child labour present in countries with ‘advanced economies’.Less

Child Labor

Francesco Cinnirella and Gianni Toniolo

in Measuring Wellbeing: A History of Italian Living Standards

Child involvement in economic activity is pervasive in today’s less developed countries—over 260 million working children according to the latest reliable estimates. The evidence available suggests ... More

Child involvement in economic activity is pervasive in today’s less developed countries—over 260 million working children according to the latest reliable estimates. The evidence available suggests that child work was also widespread in most European countries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. What do we know about Italy? No official estimates of the incidence of child work exist, nor are there any sources providing readily available quantitative information on the topic. This chapter fills that gap. We find that on the whole the industrialization of the country, which started in the latter half of the nineteenth century, was benevolent toward children: child employment dropped sharply between 1881 and 1911. The literacy of the adult population was the most powerful driving force enabling children to avoid entering the workforce—more than income, more than the role of laws and the provision of school facilities by the government.Less

A Peculiarly British Phenomenon?: Child Labour in the USA¹

Jim McKechnie

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Chapter eight, written by Jim McKechnie, offers a cross-cultural comparison of child employment by looking at the existence of child labour in the USA, a country with an advanced economy. McKechnie ... More

Chapter eight, written by Jim McKechnie, offers a cross-cultural comparison of child employment by looking at the existence of child labour in the USA, a country with an advanced economy. McKechnie uses this comparison to stand out from other child labour literature that report only on child labour in countries with under-developed economies. Using major work and research from US psychologists, McKechnie examines research on the developmental impact of employment on children and describes the effectiveness of USA’s control of child labour.Less

Child Labour and British Industrialization

Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

This chapter, written by Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries, discusses the Neo-classical economic interpretations of child labour in the Industrial Revolution and analyses its building intensification ... More

This chapter, written by Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries, discusses the Neo-classical economic interpretations of child labour in the Industrial Revolution and analyses its building intensification of exploitation during this period. The chapter also looks at the protective legislation in place within society and determines how effective it was in actually limiting the existence of child labour.Less

Child Work in the UK, 1970–1998

Madeleine Leonard

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

This chapter, written by Madeleine Leonard, discusses the recent research surrounding child employment in the UK between 1970 and 1998, and addresses the rebirth of interest in child labour among ... More

This chapter, written by Madeleine Leonard, discusses the recent research surrounding child employment in the UK between 1970 and 1998, and addresses the rebirth of interest in child labour among academics, politicians, policy makers and child welfare organisations. It provides evidence of children’s domestic and paid labour and makes an attempt to understand the extent of its presence in Britain by taking into account the numbers of children working in the UK and the conditions of their labour. The chapter also looks into how far recent developments in the twentieth century within the UK have had an effect on the economic importance of children, and the ways that these developments have contributed to a change in attitude regarding child labour.Less

Conclusion

Michael Lavalette

in A Thing of the Past?: Child Labour in Britain 1800 to the Present

Michael Lavalette concludes with a warning that child labour is not a thing of the past. He references historical reports of the issue of child labour and briefly assesses the legal movements and ... More

Michael Lavalette concludes with a warning that child labour is not a thing of the past. He references historical reports of the issue of child labour and briefly assesses the legal movements and regulations that have been put into place to resolve the issue. Lavalette concludes with a comment on international capitalism, arguing that as a result of its presence in the UK and the USA, child employment and family poverty are forced to overlap.Less