Child domestic workers: evidence from West and Central Africa

This briefing paper focuses on both boy and girl domestic workers, keeping in mind that the vast majority of children working in domestic service in West and Central Africa are girls. Most children are involved in domestic chores at home; starting with small tasks and gradually increasing in complexity and workload. The educational purpose is to each them the necessary practical, economic and social skills for adult life. Work in the home may consist of light tasks that are combined with schooling, but for those not in school it may also involve tasks taking most of the day, work in family businesses and commercial crops, and they may begin working for a wage outside the home. Parents and children, and often also employers, see child domestic work as part of this process of learning. Girls, in particular, relocate to a relative’s house to help out with domestic chores. Both girls and boys do domestic work when staying with relatives to pursue education, and teenaged girls and boys seek paid work as domestics