Brazilian girls aging 6-14 admits having worked
One in every three girls interviewed said they do not have enough time to play and study.
A survey commissioned by the British NGO Plan International, which has been active in Brazil since 1997, reveals that approximately 14% of Brazilian girls from 6 to 14 years of age admit they work or have worked for third parties. The results were released on Wednesday (Sep 10), in Brasília.
The interviews surveyed 1,771 girls in five capital cities—Belém, São Luís, São Paulo, Cuiabá, and Porto Alegre, and 16 other cities within these five metropolitan regions.
Over 37% of the respondents who admitted to working do so at someone else’s home, taking care of children, cleaning up, and carrying out other domestic chores, while 16.5% provide their services at commercial establishments. Furthermore, 7% are involved in activities related to agriculture or fishing, and 6% to factories. Around 5% of girls disclosed that they work on the street selling objects, collecting recyclable material, keeping watch over cars or cleaning them, among other informal activities.
The percentage of girls who answered they have already worked was higher among quilombola girls (8.7%) than among the others (6.6%).
“The data are really appalling. They indicate flagrant human rights violations against children—girls, in particular,” says Luca Sinesi, technical manager at Plan International. He goes on to mention that the Statute of the Child and the Adolescent makes it illegal for children under 16 to work, except if they have a job as an apprentice, which is allowed of 14 years old, with all the appropriate supervision.
It struck the researchers that one out of every ten respondents preferred to conceal their situation by not answering the question. Also, a little more that 2% of the girls stated that they are looking for a job.
São Paulo showed the largest number of children who reported working in trade, industry, or in activities related to agriculture and fishing.
Moreover, among the 149 quilombolas (descendents of slaves) interviewed, 15.4% said they are working, against the 7.1% observed among the remaining girls (1,622). The percentage of girls who answered that they have already worked was also higher among quilombola girls (8.7%) than among the others (6.6%).
Gender inequality
One in every three girls interviewed said they do not have enough time to play and study. For some of them, this happens because they are forced by their parents to perform household chores which are not usually assigned to boys. According to the researchers, this situation reveals that gender inequality is still being kept alive within the families, and reflects how the female identity is constructed.
While nearly 77% of the girls do the dishes, 65% clean up the house and 41% cook, their brothers are reported as being given the same tasks in only 12.5%, 11.4% e 11.4% of the times, respectively.
Associating the care given to children with the mother figure is another piece of information that shows the construction of the female identity: while 76% of respondents said they stay under the care of their mothers, only 26.8% stated they are usually under the responsibility of their fathers.
Construction of the female identity: while 76% of respondents said they stay under the care
of their mothers, only 26.8% stated they are usually under the responsibility of their fathers.
Violence against children
The study also attempted to ascertain whether these girls are familiar with violence against children, even through reported accounts from friends. One out of five respondents revealed they know girls who have been victims of some act of violence.
Generally speaking, the respondents said they like being a girl and regard studying and leading a healthy life as the means to be happy. In a total group comprised by brown (52%), white (39%), black (6%), Asian (1.2%) and indigenous (0.3%) girls, 71% said they are good-looking, and nearly all of them (94.8%) said their skin color is pretty.
At the meeting where the figures were disclosed, Human Rights Minister Ideli Salvatti pointed out that the information gathered reveal a different approach to the lives of these Brazilian girls.
“There are differences in the treatment [meted out to men and women] and the social roles to be played, which start crystallizing from a very early age, at home, made visible through details like the unequal assignment of chores. Knowing what this reality is like is crucial to devising inclusive public policies,” the minister argued.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Brazilian girls aging 6-14 admits having worked
