Children at Work in Rural Northern Nigeria: Patterns of Age, Space and Gender

Autor/in	Robson, Elsbeth
Titel	Children at Work in Rural Northern Nigeria: Patterns of Age, Space and Gender
Quelle	In: Journal of Rural Studies, 20 (2004) 2, S.193-210 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0743-0167
DOI	10.1016/S0743-0167(03)00047-0
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Females; Social Science Research; Rural Areas; Muslims; Economic Factors; Agricultural Production; Children; Child Labor; Gender Issues; Age Differences; Child Development; Religious Factors; Child Role; Nigeria + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Weibliches Geschlecht; Social scientific research; Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung; Rural area; Ländlicher Raum; Muslim; Muslimin; Ökonomischer Faktor; Agriculture; Production; Landwirtschaft; Produktion; Agrarproduktion; Landwirtschaftliche Produktion; Child; Kind; Kinder; Child labour; Kinderarbeit; Geschlechterfrage; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Kindesentwicklung
Abstract	Children are increasingly recognised by geographers and other social scientists as independent actors who make valuable (albeit often overlooked) economic contributions to households and society. Hausa children in rural Northern Nigeria are highly mobile and play important economic roles supporting married women who spend much time in their walled residences ("gida") because of the local socio-religious practice of Muslim seclusion. Secluded Hausa women have low mobility and do not attend local periodic markets, but make essential day-to-day purchases from child house-to-house hawkers while sending children on errands to make purchases on their behalf. This study shows how children work both independently and alongside adults in the spheres of agricultural production (on farms), domestic reproduction (in homesteads) and trade (within markets). The research reported documents the variety of children's work activities, predominantly through time use measurement, in order to examine aspects of the socio-spatial construction of childhood in a rural Northern Nigerian community. This is innovative on two counts. First, most earlier discussions of divisions of labour in Muslim Hausaland neglect both the work of children, and reproductive work. Second, even work that considers reproduction, or children's work, does not provide detailed time measurements of reproductive burdens. The paper examines divisions of children's labour and analyses how gender, space, age and other factors shape young people's experiences of rural life. The evidence presented here of children as competent agents making significant economic contributions in rural society challenges prevailing conceptions of children as mere dependent burdens on adult society. (Author).
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Update	2017/4/10