Chapter 2 cover photo credits: Mark Henley / Panos Picture

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2 | Son bias

Jayne (2004, in Blackden and Wodon, 2006) found evidence 

of intergenerational impacts of adult illness, with particularly 

negative effects on girls, owing to their care-giving burdens. 

They estimated that the probability that girls from relatively 

poor households would attend school in the one- to two-year 

period before the death of an adult declined from 90 to 62 

percent. These effects are particularly prevalent in high HIV/

AIDS-incidence contexts (see Box 16). 

Involvement in child labour 

Although it is generally assumed that boys are more likely to 

be engaged in child labour, according to the ILO (2009) 100 

million girls between 5 and 17 years are involved in child 

labour worldwide. Girls account for 46 percent of all child 

workers, and 53 million are estimated to be in hazardous or 

worst forms of child labour. Moreover, child labour activities 

for girls, combined with household and domestic duties, 

mean that daughters are often expected to work many more 

hours per week than boys (see above). In many contexts, girls 

are often discriminated against, with parents valuing boys’ 

schooling over that of girls, such that girls may have to work 

to supplement household income and school costs as well 

as undertake unpaid household chores, enduring a double 

burden of work. For instance, in Guatemala and Nicaragua, 

in poorer households older sisters are expected to work as 

domestic workers to support the family and the education of 

younger siblings (Dammert, 2010). 

Gender discrimination against girls and parents’ son 

preferences often represent a vicious circle of poverty for 

girls, who receive fewer years of schooling owing to an 

expectation that they will work (Budlender, 2008). Girls are 

often more susceptible to abuse in the workplace and are less 

able to defend their rights. In cases of bonded labour, girls 

can be particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse 

(ILO, 2009). It is estimated that girls under 16 involved in 

providing domestic services away from their own households 

constitute the largest section of child labourers (Human Rights 

Watch, 2006). Working as domestic workers can leave girls 

particularly vulnerable, as in many developing countries there 

is inadequate protection and labour laws often do not apply. 

Given the nature of the work, they are often ‘invisible,’ and 

girls are thought to make up 80 to 90 percent of child domestic 

workers (Pflug, 2002). Households that allow their children to 

become domestic workers are often poor and of particular caste 

or socioeconomic status (ibid). In Asia, working as a domestic 

worker is often desired and preferred over agricultural 

work, but such work often renders girls and young women 

vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual abuse (Human 

Rights Watch, 2006), with those who run away particularly 

vulnerable  to  commercial  sexual  exploitation  (Pflug,  2002). 

Similarly, in sub-Saharan Africa girls from poor rural areas are 

often considered not worthy of education by their parents and 

are sent to live and work with families in urban areas (see Box 

17). 

Child  domestic  workers  frequently  find  that  even  food 

is wielded as a tool of power by employers, with many girls 

going desperately hungry on a regular basis. Some girls 

reported being so hungry that they engaged in sex for money 

or stole money from their host families to buy food. 

 

In his 2004 address on International Women’s Day, Kofi 

Annan emphasised that: ‘As AIDS forces girls to drop out of 

school, whether they are forced to take care of a sick relative, 

run the household, or help support the family, they fall deeper 

into poverty. Their own children in turn are less likely to 

attend school, and more likely to become infected’ (in Plan 

International, 2009). 

The Girls’ Education Monitoring System found that children’s 

participation in formal schooling was decreasing in African 

countries with the highest prevalence of HIV (11 percent 

or greater). Within these high prevalence countries, girls 

are most affected and in some cases their enrolment has 

decreased (Chesterfield et al., 2001). In Swaziland, for 

instance, school enrolment is estimated to have fallen by 36 

percent as a result of AIDS, with girls the most affected.

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Similarly, in a study exploring the ways in which households 

cope with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Steinberg et al. (2002) 

found that the majority of caregivers in the home were women 

or girls (68 percent) and that, of these, 7 percent were less 

than 18 years of age.

 

Sending children to grow up with relatives – child fostering, 

or confiage – is a common social practice across Africa. 

Child domestic workers often work in the house of a relative, 

acquaintance or even stranger, where they have been sent 

by their parents at an age as young as five. If a host family 

treats a girl well, sends her to school and allows her to be in 

contact with her parents, she might have a better future than 

she will at home. Parents often send their children to the city 

because they think they will suffer less from hunger and the 

hard living conditions found in rural areas. However, many 

adults employing girl domestic workers violate their role as 

guardians or employers, and instead exploit and abuse them. 

It is difficult for the victims to seek redress, as abuse occurs 

in the home and is hidden from public scrutiny. Many child 

domestic workers are isolated in their employers’ homes 

and are unable to access any information or assistance from 

outside. 

Source: Human Rights Watch, 2006

Box 17: The invisibility of girl domestic 

workers in West Africa 

Box 16: Daughters disproportionately 

shoulder the care of relatives living with

HIV/AIDS

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