Research Abstracts on Child Labour Women Labour - Nipccd

18
<strong>Research</strong> <strong>Abstracts</strong> on Child Labour, Labour and Women Labour 1998 - 2009
Domestic Worker
Majority of CDWs were involved in cleaning and washing in both Mumbai (55.6%) and
Jharkhand (53.8%). About 25.3% CDWs had more than 3 family members and only 1.4% had
one sibling. Around 87.4% CDWs spent their free time in leisure activities and very little in
studies and vocational training. A majority of CDWs (77.2%) received their salary
themselves, and the salary of only 23.2% children was given directly to the parents/
guardians. The general trend of the pay structure ranged between Rs.500 to Rs.2000 on an
average. However, a majority of CDWs worked as part-time workers, and did not earn more
than Rs.500 to Rs.1000. Around 80% of the children used the money as a part of their
family income. It was found that 74% CDWs did not have even the basic right to a holiday.
It is important that child domestic work is included in the Child Labour Prevention and
Regulation Act (CLPRA) as a hazardous form of child labour. It may also be necessary to
have awareness campaigns in source (high endemic areas usually rural) areas as well as
receiving areas (mainly urban) to highlight the issue of child domestic work and also
problems faced by such children.
Save the Children, Kolkata. (2006).
Abuse among child domestic workers : a research study in West Bengal. Kolkata : SC.
29 p.
Key Words : 1.CHILD LABOUR 2.DOMESTIC WORKER 3.ABUSE CHILD LABOUR
4.EXPLOITATION CHILD LABOUR 5.CHILD ABUSE 6.SAFETY 7.CHILD SAFETY
8.PORNOGRAPHY 9.WEST BENGAL.
Abstract : Child domestic work has been recognized as one of the most intolerable forms of
child work and is a sector that has been identified by the International Labour Organization
(ILO) as a priority sector for removing children from work. Child domestic workers are
vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual exploitation. This research study focuses
specifically on abuse faced by child domestic workers in both urban and rural areas in 4
districts of West Bengal. The universe of the study were 1020 children identified as
domestic child labour and of these 513 responses were received. Most of the child
participants were girls between 11-15 years of age, and 10% were below 10 years of age.
About 46% participants had been working as child domestic workers for 2 years,
approximately 52% had been working for 3 to 10 years and most had started working when
they were between 8 and 12 years of age. Almost 70% of the child domestic workers had
been physically abused. The most common type of physical abuse was beating with an
external object and slapping. 5.3% of the total number of respondents had been at the
receiving end of all forms of physical abuse, while another 16% had received all types of
physical abuse except burning. 441 out of a total of 513 participants had faced emotional
abuse in varied forms such as being shouted at (20.1%); cursed/verbally abused (11.1%);