SOME HYPOTHESES ABOUT CHILD
LABOR IN GUADALAJARA, MEXICO:
Patricia Murrieta CummingsProfesor Investigador, Universidad de Guadalajara
February 2010
GENDER DISPARITIES
“Gender disparities exist before birth and become wider through the school-age and adolescent years” (Kurz & Prather, 1995)
Youngest age group: mortality rates, health care and nutrition
School-age group: Social and cultural vulnerability increases greatly (increased work responsibilities, time spend in domestic chores, pregnancy, gender violence, etc.)
Disparity reduction between boys and girls, as “a mayor strategy for the achievement of the goals for children and development (…)” UNICEF, 1991
THE NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF
WORK INSTEAD OF SCHOOL
It impacts children’s long term ability to satisfy their needs through a more effective use of personal resources (Behrman, 1989)
Decreases the possibility of having a good income. In México a person with 6 years of schooling earns almost 100% more than someone without studies. The difference with someone who completed secondary school is of 170% (López, 2005:91).
Child labor contributes to create a poverty trap as households substitute education by child work, in an attempt to increase daily income within the household. (Ravallion, et.al, 2000; Ureña, 2008)
Is a constraint to human capital , and therefore, to economic growth and development (Udry, 2006; Glewwe & Hacoby, 1994).
Boys and girls that go to school at the same time that work decrease their learning competence because of the lack of time for studying and because of being tired (Heady, 2000)
Can be hazardous (UNICEF, 1991; Kurz & Prather, 1995; López, 2005; OIT, 2004)
WHY DO CHILDREN WORK?
In Latin America and in many developing countries, many children work and study (López, 2005; Blanco, 2009; Gustafsson-Wright, 2000).
Economic development and child labor are strongly correlated (Edmonds, 2005)
Poverty is seen as one of the main causes (López, 2005; Basu y Van, 1998; Ureña, 2008; Canagarajah, et.al., 1997; Heady 2000; Edmonds, 2005)
Household well-being (Dar et.al. 2002)
¿QUÉ PASA EN MÉXICO? Poor people
High risk: Walking through the cars, exposed to severe weather conditions, subject to agression from drivers, accidents.
20.7% working children are exposed to risk (Módulo de Trabajo Infantil, ENOE, 2007) *Without including street children, therefore percentage should be higher.
2007, 549 children working on the streets and city markets. 67% boys. (Estudio municipal sobre trabajo en la calle, DIF Guadalajara, Coordinación de Protección a la Infancia, 2007b)
Worst forms of child labor: slavery, exposition to health problems and dangerous situations, risks linked to personal security. (OrganizaciónInternacional del Trabajo y Unión Interparlamentaria UIP, 2002:15)
GUADALAJARA
Data shows: More boys than girls work on the streets
Reports at world-wide level (Kurz & Prather, 1995; UNICEF, 2006; Blanco Allais, 2009) and data at local level (ConsejoEstatal de Población, 2009; Consejo Nacional de Población, 2009; Coordinación de Protección a la Infancia, 2007; Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, 2007) show greater social and cultural vulnerability for women than for men, even though there is a higher presence of girls attending school than boys.
Girls work less than boys Attend school in a higher proportion
Why even when girls have a greater presence at school, and a minor participation in child labor, they are more vulnerable than boys?
¿por qué a pesar de que hay una mayor presencia de niñas en la escuela primaria, y una menor participación en el trabajo infantil, la calidad de vida de las mujeres es inferior a la de los hombres?
RESEARCH QUESTION
FILLING THE GAP?
Few studies about Schooling and child labor in Mexico
All of them based on the ENOE: statistic. Mainvariable: income
What is behind income?
Costs of schooling and parents decision
Impact of culture on parents decission aboutschooling
Case study: Families that work on the street of Guadalajara City
WHAT I DO IN THIS PART OF
MY RESEARCH
I try to explain how the minor presence of girls working on the streets can be understood as the result of an exclusion process strongly embedded in a culture in which women’s tasks and responsibilities are socially defined and limited in such a way that an important part of their work is not visible.
CULTURE HELPS TO HIDE ABUSIVE SITUATIONSSituations in which children rights are not respected
OBJECTIVE
To show how, even within the most vulnerable population, women tend to reproduce more easily what Charles Tilly (1998) called “durable inequalities”.
Inequalities that result from subtle forms of segregation that are reproduced from one generation to the other.
MAIN AIM
To understand how a culture, strongly rooted in social roles that tend to differentiate girls from boys, helps to reproduce inequalities from one generation to the other; perpetuating in this way the disparity in the development and well being of boys and girls.
MAIN ARGUMENT
Child labor and school attendance can and needs to be explained from a gender perspective
The decision about sending (or not) a child to school is determined by the perceived cost of schooling (Udrey, 2006), and by cultural aspects related to gender roles in which prejudice about children’s capacity to study influence decisions about investing in education or not. And that definitions about gender roles do both, (1) influence parent’s support of boys’ work and (2) justify better nourishment of boys based on their need to work.
School
attendance
Perceived cost of
schooling (earning
opportunity)
Gender
roles
Prejudice about
children’s capacity
to study
Support of
boys’ work
Justify better
nourishment
of boys
CHARLES TILLY, 1998
In most households, when families are confronted by limited amounts of food, decisions about which family member is going to be well nourished are continuously being taken.
A significant amount of literature about discrimination and gender, presents enough evidence about unequal treatment among men and women in many parts of the world (Tilly, 1998).
WHAT I’M PRESENTING HERE
Hypotheses based on data of child labor in Mexico and specifically, in the municipality of Guadalajara.
Descriptive work based on:
Data sets from the Sistema de Atención a la Familia, DIF Guadalajara,
Semi-structured interviews with 65 families that work on the streets
Informal conversations with families working on the streets
WHAT I’M PRESENTING
The city
The Families: Mixtecos with a long tradition of migration and work on the streets
Mixtecos recently arrived“Tapatios”
I argue that each of these groups has a particular culture that influence the way in which children participate in the labor market and the decision about sending them to school or not.
Characteristics of children who work on the streets
Present five preliminary hypotheses
LA ZONA METROPOLITANA
DE GUADALAJARA
76% of the population in México lives in urban areas. Guadalajara is the second largest city in the country. It is estimated that currently has 4 million habitants (Consejo Nacional de Población, 2009).
Mostly women, 28.98% under 15 years old. (>1’200, 000 minors) at least 400,000 living in the municipality of Gudalajara.
Population density gives place to more than 80 thousand people living in extreme poverty, 160 thousand in pobreza de capacidades and more than half million in poberty of partimonio
IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILD
LABOR
High contrast among the population makes employment as domestic worker easy and facilitates the existence of an informal market on the streets.
I sell, you buy…
CHILD LABOR AND CULTURE:
THE FAMILIES
(2007) At least 1165 persons working on the streets of the municipality of Guadalajara. Which represent approximately 250 families.
At least 40 of them are mixtecos that live in the poorer zones of Guadalajara.
FAMILIES
MixtecosCol. Ferrocarrilera
MixtecosCol. Ferrocarrilera
MixtecosEl Embarcadero
Tapatios
2nd generation Recently arrived Recently arrived Born in the city or sorroundings
A family member owns a place to live
Place of their own, previously from a relative (don’t have papers, but feel as if their own)
Irregular settlement, share the place with other families
Rent a place for their family. Lease or borrow a room in a relative’s house.
1 or 2 households in the same property
Mostly 1 household per place of residence
2 or more households in the same property
Mostly 1 household per place of residence
Children under 5 are still small for attending school
Children under 5 are still small for attending school
Children under 5 are still small for attending school
Children need to go to school since they are 3 years old
Both men and women can sell on the streets
Men are mainly gardeners; women sell on the streets
Men are mainly gardeners; women sell on the streets
Both men and women can sell on the streets, but they are mainly “franeleros”
Both parents try to learn Spanish or know it
Few adults speak Spanish. Few adults speak Spanish. Spanish speakers
Trying to improve living conditions. Strong interest in children’s education. Do not want a 3rd generation of street vendors.
Not really interested in changing their way of life and no much interest in children’s school.
The poorest of all. Trying to improve living conditions. Strong interest in children’s education. Do not want their children working on the streets.
All of them share the lack of opportunities because of education level
CHILDREN WORKING ON THE
STREETS OF GUADALAJARA
More than 335 boys and girls working on the streets of the muncipality. 58% are boys and 42% girls.
Most girls: between 7 and 12 years old. Most boys: between 13 and 17 years old.
More boys studying than girls.
Most girls are companions, ask for coins or sell candies. Older girls clean windshields. Few girls sell artcrafts on the streets.
Boys prefer to clean windows or sell candies. Smaller boys are almost always accompanying an adult—it is easier to receive money if you are with a small child than by yourself. It is more common to find boys as clowns than girls.
THE MARKETS
An important amount of children do their activities in the main city markets.
(2007) Were found 212 minors working on the 3 main markets of the municipality
Strong presence of boys: 80%
Most boys are carriers (“diableros”).
Girls: Sell candies, juices or take care of small brothers and sisters.
More common to find minors working and studying. Given the possibility of being employed in the small stores, it is more common to find children with middle school completed, and a high presence of adolescents.
Is not common to find indigenous population employed in the markets. Indigenous women prefer to be selling candies and artcrafts on the streets.
EL TRABAJO OCULTO
Domestic work is hard to see or measure. Many families do not recognize domestic work or care of small brothers and sisters as child labor… it is meant to be a girl’s responsibility.
Even some adults that work on the streets, consider that girls presence on the streets is just a result of the need to take care of siblings, and do not report such as child labor.
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS AND
HYPOTHESES
During adolescence the percentage of girls who work decreases; while the percentage of boys increases with age.
Rango de edades Trabaja
Si No
De 4 a 6 Hombre 16.7 % 83.3 %
Mujer 27.3 % 72.7 %
De 7 a 12 Hombre 41.7 % 58.3 %
Mujer 52.9 % 47.1 %
De 13 a 15 Hombre 52.6 % 47.4 %
Mujer 16.7 % 83.3 %
De 16 a 18 Hombre 77.8 % 22.2 %
Mujer 60.0 % 40.0 %
For many parents gir ls face more r isks than
boys; because of their lack of capaci ty to defend
themselves and because of their sexual i ty
H1: Parents are more apprehensive about older girls working on the streets, than boys or little girls.
H2: Sometimes this same concern makes them decide not to send them to school.
“No es lo mismo ser mujer que hombre en la calle. A nosotras nos molestan
más y sienten que si trabajamos en la calle es porque somos unas locas.
Luego creen que estás buscando alguien con quien irte. A mi llegaron a
respetarme porque me arrejunté con Gustavo, pero yo no dejaría que mi hija
trabajara en el crucero” (Mónica, octubre del 2009)
SOCIAL ROLES DEFINE WHAT A GIRL OR A BOY HAS
TO DO. IN SOME CASES THESE ROLES ARE
IMPOSED, AND IN OTHERS LEARNED BY IMITATION.
H3: As girls grow, their responsibility toward the household increases, with which child labor moves from the streets to their home.
Women’s work (or not to do it) is a social act strongly embedded in an economic, social and cultural dynamic; as Beşpinar-Ekici argues, patriarchal values determine how women live their work experience and the general ideas and expectations about a women’s work. (Beşpinar-Ekici, 2007)
TIME SPENT ON DOMESTIC
WORK, BY SEX
Sexo
Rango de edad
De 4 a 6 De 7 a 12 De 13 a 15 De 16 a 18 Total
Hombre Media .0158 .4895 1.4150 3.7222 1.9590
Desviación
Estándar.06882 .88647 1.89244 8.01994 5.80752
N 19 38 20 9 105
Mujer Media .0909 .7559 1.9615 1.5300 2.7281
Desviación
Estándar.30151 1.54904 2.84474 1.89388 6.75475
N 11 34 13 10 89
BOYS SPEND MORE TIME WORKING
ON THE STREETS THAN GIRLS
But, when you take into consideration both: work on the streets and domestic work, girls between 7and 12 years old, work more hours than boys.
Girls have a double “jornada” that is not evident on existing statistics about child labor. Many work on the streets at the same time that they do domestic work and study: a triple “jornada”.
During adolescence, girls work less than boys for payment. Some leave the streets to work as domestic workers or to help with the household needs so their mother can work.
H4: In Mexico, ideas about what a girl is meant to do because she is a women influence considerably in the double “jornada” they have to do when they are between 7 and 12 years old (elementary school girls)
SCHOOL ATTENDANCERango de edades Estudia
Si No
De 4 a 6 Hombre 52.9 % 47.1 %
Mujer 40.0 % 60.0 %
Total 48.1 51.9 %
De 7 a 12 Hombre 94.7 % 5.3 %
Mujer 87.1 % 12.9 %
Total 91.3 % 8.7%
De 13 a 15 Hombre 88.2 % 11.8 %
Mujer 76.9 % 23.1 %
Total 83.3 % 6.7 %
De 16 a 18 Hombre 37.5 % 62.5 %
Mujer 44.4 % 55.6 %
Total 41.2 % 58.8 %
During adolescence, the minor presence of girls in the labor market is still not reflected in school attendance.
The higher proportion of girls attending school takes place during high school.
The proportion of girls who drop school is less than that of boys
GETTING OUT OF SCHOOL
Based on studies about school attendance, it is common for boys to leave school because they do not get adapted or because they have a hard time studying (Rizzini, 2009).
H5: Girls are more capable of adapting to school than boys—it is less common for girls to get involved in school conflicts, than for boys. Although, the double “jornada” and the importance that is given to matternity and to women’s responsibility of taking care of the house, gives place to a lack of interest in school and a difficulty to do well at school.
CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL
REMARKS
Based on existing data, it seems that boys are subject to a greater negative impact than girls. Nevertheles, when we take into consideration the information obtained with working families (qualitative data), it seems that women suffer more of a double working day than boys and are left behind at school more easily than boys.
The greatest negative impact for girls takes place during elementary school, because they do not have time for recreation and study, because they need to help their family.
During adolescence, the negative impact has more to do with a consequence of their infancy—being left behind at school—and with the possibility of getting pregnant at a young age, than with the double “working day”.
LACK OF CLARITY IN THE DIMENSION OF
THE DISPARITY BETWEEN BOYS AND
GIRLS DEVELOPMENT
Apparently there are significant differences in terms os access to school and the need to work that should benefit women.
Nevertheless, as I have tried to show, there are disparities that are hard to observe if we just base our analysis on statistics; and that have a significant impact on a long term.
Disadvantages that if we do not observe, can give place to mothers of children with a minor life expectancy during their first years of life; and as Kurz and Prather argue, it is probable that those who survive would have worst health, lower education level and be less confident, with which the poverty cycle and the lack of guarantee to human rights would continue. (Kurz y Prather, 1995: 1)
If we want to guarantee human rights, we need take into consideration gender differences
