Many children work for families other than their own, and miss out on education, suffer isolation and are at risk of violence, an ILO report says
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – An estimated 10.5 million children, most of them girls, carry out paid or unpaid domestic work in households other than their own, and coordinated action is needed to end this persistent form of child labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.
Around two thirds of the children engaged in domestic work are estimated to be below the legal minimum working age, or work in hazardous or slave-like conditions, the report said.
Children carry out tasks such as cleaning, ironing, cooking, gardening, collecting water, looking after other children and caring for the elderly. They are often isolated from their families and highly dependent on their employers, and many have limited or no access to education.
Many countries do not recognise children’s domestic work as child labour because their relationship with the family they work for is unclear. Even though children are living in family settings, they are not treated like family members.
Discrimination against child domestic workers and their isolation from their own family often result in physical, psychological and sexual violence.
Poverty is one of the major factors that drive child labour. Children from poor families are often sent to work to reduce the financial burden on their own family. Other factors are gender discrimination, domestic violence, child marriage, displacement or conflict. In some places children work to help repay family debts, the report said.
Child domestic work is highly feminized, mainly because of the traditional belief that domestic work is the domain of women and girls. The marginalized position of girls in many societies and their lack of education make them particularly vulnerable to child labour, the report said.
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