Werkwinkel, 2009, vol. 4(1)

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Children’s Work in Southern Africa
(Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English, 2009) Bourdillon, Michael F.C.
This article questions the applicability of international standards on children’s work to such situations as are found in South Africa. Differing contexts affect ideas of what is appropriate for children. Although South Africa has a developed economy and technology and aspires to full participation in the developed world, poverty remains a problem, as does quality and accessibility of schooling. These factors, together with different cultural views on children and growing up, affect experiences of childhood and of school, making them very different from the experiences of young people in the developed world. Although few children in South Africa are in regular paid employment, those undertaking part-time paid work often see this as a positive feature in their lives, while many find that unpaid work in the home can be a problem. Such children doing useful part-time paid work, as well as those doing excessive work in their homes, need protection and support, yet escape attention in international discourse on abolishing ‘child labour.’