Citation

Mzungu M. Links Cent. Am. Health Rights Netw. 1999; ePub(ePub): 6.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Central America Health Rights Network)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12295034

Abstract

This article exposes the conditions among children who are forced by their poor families to assume domestic work in households in Kenya. It is an accepted practice for parents to place daughters in households to help with housework and baby-sitting. The Sinaga Women and Child Labor Resource Center in Nairobi finds this exploitative and part of a wider practice that institutionalizes violence against women. The Center was established in 1995 to challenge the practice of child domestic labor. The Center's research reveals that child domestic workers tend to come from large, poor, and rural families or from urban slums. Wages are low or exchanged for shoes, clothes, and food. The hours of work are long. Mistreatment may include sexual molestation by male household members, beatings, verbal abuse, and mistrust. There is little recourse. Complaints from child workers or others outside the household can result in further mistreatment. Action against mistreatment is complicated by the prevailing image of activists as frustrated women with vendettas against men. The Center focuses on rehabilitation, literacy training, marketable skill development, and awareness creation. Counseling includes parents, children, and employers. Public awareness campaigns have resulted in employer referrals of youth workers for training. Other groups are joining the effort to improve conditions for child domestic workers.

Language: en