Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines

2432 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Negative Impact Of Child Labor

Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines

Introduction

“I wake up at 3am to water the plants, clean the house, go to market, cook, wash the plates, wash the clothes, iron the clothes. I return to the market three times a day. From 5pm to 9pm, they allow me to go to school. When I return, I have to wash the dishes, then I massage both my male and female employer until 1am. I only have two hours to sleep.” This is how a girl from Buikidnon, Philippines described her experience with child labour to Anti-Slavery International researchers. She is a former child domestic worker who entered domestic work at nine years old, enduring her employer’s abuse.

Children are considered the future of our countries, with their own rights, especially to education. However, as seen by this story, this is simply not the case everywhere. While we are living in the 21st century many people simply assume that slavery is a thing of the past, especially child labour, but as you will see, this is far from the truth.

According to Anti-Slavery International, a child domestic worker is defined as any person under the age of eighteen who works in households other than their own, doing domestic chores, caring for children, tending the garden, running errands and helping their employers run their small businesses, amongst other tasks.

It is near impossible for these children to claim their own rights, instead they are exploited and their freedom taken from them.

The Victims

While there are many reasons as to why children enter the world of domestic work, the main reason always seems to come back to the fact that they need to support and sustain themselves and their families financially and no education or qualifications are required. Children will also...

... middle of paper ...

...13/953399/10.5-m-kids-slave-conditions-domestic-servants [Accessed: 5 Dec 2013].
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2013). Child Workers. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/inclusive-education/child-workers/ [Accessed: 6 Dec 2013].
United States Department of Labour (n.d.). Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Philippines. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/philippines.htm [Accessed: 7 Dec 2013].
Unknown. (2013). Untitled. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_184096/lang--en/index.htm [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].
Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. (n.d.). About us. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.visayanforum.org/portal/index.php?option=cms&id=21#sthash.hvH1t6Cj [Accessed: 6 Dec 2013].

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Live Free And Starve Divakaruni

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    One summer a couple years back, I watched a documentary on how clothing was manufactured. The video was filled of disturbing images and videos of child workers. They rarely looked up to see the camera that filmed them, instead they continued to work at fast paces. I remember my inquisition as I thought of why they would allow children to be exploited and overworked at such young ages. I can recall a moment in the video where they showed a four year old boy. In the text titled “Live Free and Starve,” Divakaruni explores the consequences of a new bill on child labor and ultimately leads us to her core thought, that freedom comes at a cost.

    Read More

  • Comparing Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And The Progressive Era

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, there were many other violations of human rights that were not as promptly resolved. All around America, large industries began to exploit children as a cheaper alternative to adult labour. Knowing that families were struggling to survive in the extreme competitiveness of urban life and had few financial options, employers offered children jobs with extremely low rates. The employment of the youth, often referred to as “Child Slavery,” was notoriously demanding for young children (“The 1930s”). Due to the lack of sufficiently supportive jobs, families were forced to send off their children to supplement the household income.

    Read More

  • Independence in The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Department of Labor's 2005 Findings...Preface and Introduction." The Department of Labor's 2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. 2006: 7-40. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 14 Nov 2013.

    Read More

  • Troubling Issues of Child Labor in Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys does an excellent job illustrating the troubling issue of child labor. The extent of child labor in a country is directly linked by the nature and extent of poverty within it. Child labor deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity. It is detrimental to physical and mental development. Today, there are an estimated 246 million child laborers around the globe. This irritating social issue is not only violates a nation’s minimum age laws , it also involves intolerable abuse, such as child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and illicit activities. In Between Shades of Grey , Lina and her ten year old brother are unrightfully charged 25 years of labor at a work camp in Siberia. It prevented the children from going to school and used them to undermine labor standards. In the harsh winter and even worse living conditions, they watched their mother as she starved to death.

    Read More

  • Human Rights in Ender´s Game by Orson Scott Card

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shah, Anup. "Child Labor." - Global Issues. Anup Shah, 17 July 2005. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .

    Read More

  • Child Labor

    1721 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout time children have worked myriad hours in hazardous workplaces in order to make a few cents to a few dollars. This is known as child labor, where children are risking their lives daily for money. Today child labor continues to exist all over the world and even in the United States where children pick fruits and vegetables in difficult conditions. According to the article, “What is Child Labor”; it states that roughly 215 million children around the world are working between the ages of 5 and 17 in harmful workplaces. Child labor continues to exist because many families live in poverty and with more working hands there is an increase in income. Other families take their children to work in the fields because they have no access to childcare and extra money is beneficial to buy basic needs. Although there are laws and regulations that protect children from child labor, stronger enforcement is required because child labor not only exploits children but also has detrimental effects on a child’s health, education, and the people of the nation.

    Read More

  • Child Protective Service Worker

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    It’s undoubtedly complex and can take someone strong and passionate, with all their good intentions, and completely break them down and burn them out. Entering this field requires a Human Services worker to not only be prepared for all that it includes, but to be fully educated in the accepted and most effective best practices to produce superior results for the child and their family. This paper will discuss the career choice of a Child Protective Service (CPS) worker and the standard best practices implemented in this

    Read More

  • Child Labor

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    Taking into consideration the conditions these children work in, they are obviously mistreated. They are not washed, fed or clothed, resulting in malnutrition and children “clad in rags” (597). Employers even use mistreatment to teach the children how to do their jobs. Hibbert describes that “you can’t be soft with them, you must use violence” (595). Chimney sweepers can sometimes go “fifteen months without being washed except the rain” (595), wearing the same shirt until it is worn thin. To harden the flesh of the sweepers, their elbows and knees are rubbed profusely with the strongest brine, leaving their limbs “streaming with blood” (596). Workers sometimes found themselves caught in a machine, crushed by a machine, or swung by a machine. They suffered multiple injuries that were always ignored, most of the time consequently becoming fatal. The workers were not only subjected to poor working conditions, but being mistreated within them. It wasn’t for long after laws were made that treatment of children laborers improved.

    Read More

  • What Are The Causes Of Child Labor Essay

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    We have all at one point seen or read an article of young girls and boys being abducted or simply forced into manual labor. Many reasons have been given as to why child labor occurs in these foreign countries such as: poverty, low pay, and unskilled work. These foreign companies or sweatshops find it easy to simply abduct poor and uneducated children, and force them into slavery for little to no pay and horrible working conditions. This is because there is greater demand for low skilled, and low cost labor that employers prefer to fill with child labor, instead of having to deal with more expensive and less flexible adult employees. Throughout the years there has been an increase in the supply of child labor mainly because of young kids in

    Read More

  • Child Labor Argumentative Essay

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Think about the cotton in your shirt, the sugar in your coffee, and the shoes on your feet, all of which could be products of child labor. Child labor is a practice that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity and includes over 200 million children worldwide who are involved in the production of goods for companies and industries willing to exploit these kids for profit. Although most countries have laws prohibiting child labor, a lack of funding and manpower means that these laws are rarely enforced on a large scale. However, even for a first-world country like the United States, that has a large number of state and federal law enforcement officers, child labor is still a problem because priority is given to crimes that are more violent or heinous. Child labor must be made a priority issue because it is a global plague whose victims are physically and psychologically scarred, lack a proper education, are impoverished, and whose children are doomed to the same fate if nothing changes.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Social Construction Of Childhood

    2481 Words  | 5 Pages

    Because of the more crucial importance of children’s labour to many household economies, children are involved in forms of labour just like their parents. Females play a central role in domestic labour and care for their siblings like they are the mother of the family. Children take on considerable responsibilities, and see this as part of their obligations to their families. Hence, in some countries, child labour is prevalent and, for many children, education has to fit around work commitments. This contrasts with the developed West, where children’s work has to fit around their education commitments. The priorities for children are different, and their childhoods are very much so a different

    Read More

  • Overview of Child Welfare

    2976 Words  | 6 Pages

    People may wonder which profession in our society is dedicated to the well-being of children: the answer is social work in the field of Child Welfare. Child welfare is a segment of social work that is vital to the health and stability of the children and families in our society. These social workers provide a multitude of different services, some of which include working in the foster care system, child protective services, as caseworkers, and as therapists. They work with children and adults alike, making it their mission to provide the resources and services necessary for children to be in the most safe and healthy environment and situation possible.

    Read More

  • Child Labor

    2143 Words  | 5 Pages

    Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5 years old, are slaves to the production line. These unfortunate children manufacture shoes, matches, clothing, rugs and countless other products that are flooding the American market and driving hard-working Americans out of jobs. These children worked long hours, were frequently beaten, and were paid a pittance. In 1979, a study shows more than 50 million children below the age of 16 were considered child labor (United Nation labors agency data). In 1998, according to the Campaign for Labor rights that is a NGO and United Nation Labor Agency, 250 million children around the world are working in farms, factories, and household. Some human rights experts indicate that there are as many as 400 million children under the age of 15 are performing forced labor either part or full-time under unsafe work environment. Based upon the needs of the situation, there are specific areas of the world where the practice of child labor is taking place. According to the journal written by Basu, Ashagrie gat...

    Read More

  • Child Labour: NOT Always Wrong

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    So I believe that the issue of child labour is not simple. As Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report argued, children’s work needs to be seen as having two extremes. On one hand, there is the destructive or exploitative work and, on the other hand, there is beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest. ‘And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development.’ My firm belief is that there is a difference between child labour and child work and that in both cases the issue is whether or not the child is deliberately being exploited.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Child Labour

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Child labour is an issue that has plagued society since the earliest of times. Despite measures taken by NGOs as well as the UN, child labour is still a prevalent problem in today’s society. Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of a Child gives all children the right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child 's education, or to be harmful to the child 's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.1 Child labour clearly violates this right as well as others found in the UDHR. When we fail to see this issue as a human rights violation children around the world are subjected to hard labour which interferes with education, reinforces

    Read More

More about Child Domestic Workers in the Philippines

Open Document