Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work

MICHAEL F. C. BOURDILLON is a professor emeritus in the department of sociology at the University of Zimbabwe. He has worked with street children in Harare, and with working children regionally and internationally, and is the author and editor of several books including Earning a Life: Working Children in Zimbabwe.DEBORAH LEVISON, an economist and demographer, is a professor at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Much of her research focuses on third world children's work and schooling in the context of the household.WILLIAM E. MYERS is retired from the United Nations, where he addressed child work issues with UNICEF and the ILO. He is currently an associate in the department of human and community development at the University of California, Davis.BEN WHITE is a professor of rural sociology at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and a professor in social sciences at the University of Amsterdam. His books and edited volumes include Child Labour: Policy Options.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of Figures and TablesList of Acronyms1. Raising Questions, Questioning the Answers"When I was fired, I cried for two weeks": How Intervention Went Wrong in Morocco's Garment IndustryWhose Interests?Ways of ThinkingChildren's RightsKnowledge, Understanding, and Information2. Work That Children DoWhat Is Children's Work?What Children Say about Why They WorkConcluding Comment3. Children's Work in Historical and Comparative PerspectiveChild Labor and the Industrial Revolution in Britain around the Nineteenth CenturyChild Work, Education, and Interventions in Asia and Africa: Examples from Indonesia and ZimbabweChildren, Work, and Education in Communist Revolutions and Post-Communist TransitionsInternational Standards and Trends in Interventions4. Child Work and Poverty: A Tangled RelationshipWhat Is Poverty?Defining and Measuring Labor-Force WorkMany Poor Children Do Not Work for PayLabor Supply and Labor DemandGeneral PatternsChildren's Earnings: How Much, and Who Gets Them? Are Children Working Instead of Adults, or Undermining Adult Wages?Conditional Cash Transfers as Compensation for School EnrollmentIs Child Work a Cultural Phenomenon Rather Than an Economic Necessity?The Effects of Child Work on Poverty Dynamics: How Learning MattersDoes Poverty Cause Child Work?5. Work in Children's DevelopmentFraming the IssueThe Idea of Human "Development in Social ScienceConcluding Observations6. Education, School, and Work"Earn-and-Learn": Tea Estates in ZimbabweChildren's PerceptionsThe Right to EducationSchool as WorkProblems with SchoolsCan School Mix with Work?Combining Labor-Force Work with SchoolLearning through WorkConclusion7. Children Acting for ThemselvesAgency of ChildrenStreet ChildrenIndependent MigrationOrganizations of Working ChildrenChild Participation in Making Decisions8. Assessing Harm against BenefitsChild Domestic Work: Pros and ConsA Continuum of Harm and BenefitIntolerable Forms and Conditions of WorkAssessing Hazardous WorkWeighing Harm against BenefitsA Note on ExploitationWhat Does This Mean in Practice?9. The Politics of International InterventionThe Case of Child Garment Workers in Bangladesh: Tragedy or Scandal?Stitching Footballs in SialkotWhat Should Be Learned from These Experiences?Promoting and Protecting the Interests of Children Who Work: A Case in EgyptConcluding Thoughts10. Policies and Interventions: What Should They Achieve, and How?Starting PointsPrinciplesPracticeNotes ReferencesIndex

"Bourdillon and colleagues analyze the problems, benefits, appropriate interventions, culture, and policies related to children's work with a respect for the individual rights of the children involved. Recommended."(Choice) "While this book is not the first to challenge conventional thinking on children's work, it is comprehensive in its analysis and bold in its call for change."(Comparative Education Review) "In Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work, the authors provide us with a definitive and balanced examination of why it is that the majority of the world's children's work for a living. This is an excellent book, which has clearly been designed to engage both the novice and expert. The clarity of reflective thought in this book is particularly impressive and reassuring."(Contemporary Sociology) "Bourdillon and colleagues analyze the problems, benefits, appropriate interventions, culture, and policies related to children's work with a respect for the individual rights of the children involved. Recommended."(Choice) "While this book is not the first to challenge conventional thinking on children's work, it is comprehensive in its analysis and bold in its call for change."(Comparative Education Review) "In Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work, the authors provide us with a definitive and balanced examination of why it is that the majority of the world's children's work for a living. This is an excellent book, which has clearly been designed to engage both the novice and expert. The clarity of reflective thought in this book is particularly impressive and reassuring."(Contemporary Sociology)