ABSTRACT
Children across the world undertake a wide variety of work. A recent book about children’s work in Zimbabwe (Bourdillon 2000b), for instance, discusses the activities of young street workers, vendors, domestic servants, carers, farm hands, tea and coffee pickers and miners: a far from comprehensive list. It is not simply the type of work that varies, but also the conditions under which it takes place. Children may work for families, themselves or employers; in the home, on the street or in a factory; for pay, for other remuneration or for nothing; a few hours a week or 14 hours a day (Table 6.1). Situations vary between children and from place to place. In Ghana, most child workers work part-time in family businesses and get some schooling, whereas in Pakistan many children work fulltime outside the family and do not attend school (Myers 1999). The immense variety of work, and wide age-range of the young people involved, complicates any discussion of causes and consequences, and conditions debates concerning the merits of allowing or discouraging children’s work.
