Black girls are the majority of reported cases (67%) of child domestic labor in Brazil

by Carolina Sarres of Agência Brasil

Over 93% of children and adolescents involved in domestic work in Brazil are girls – almost twenty percentage points higher than the world average, which is 71% – according to the latest survey data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the topic. In absolute numbers, there are more than 241,000 girls performing household chores in the home of others. The data was released yesterday (12) by the Fórum Nacional de Prevenção e Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil (FNPeti or the National Forum for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor), in the study O Trabalho Doméstico no Brasil (Domestic Work in Brazil), based on information from the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (Pnad or National Household Sample Survey) of 2011, the most recent. In relation to color, the profile of these children and youth indicates that 67% are black.

Recently the World Day Against Child Labor was observed. Both the International Labor Organisation (ILO) as FNPETI released, to mark the date, studies with an emphasis on domestic child labor in the world and Brazil, respectively.

The data presented confirm that there are approximately 258,000 cases of child labor in the country, as had already been reported by Agência Brasil. Between 2009 and 2011, there was a 30% reduction in the number of cases – in 2009 there were 362,800. In relation to children and adolescents from 10 to 13 years of age, there were more than 30,100 in 2011, involved in domestic activities. Among youths aged 14 to 15 years, 92,400 and 16-17 years, just over 135, 000.

Of this total, more than 102,600 are in the Northeast, the region with the highest concentration of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years working in the home of others. The state of Bahia was the region with the highest number of cases reported, 26,500. In the country, Minas Gerais was the state that most recorded this kind of activity – 31,300. Proportionally, the increase of cases was most significant in Rio Grande do Norte, from 6% of the juvenile population to 15.1%.

The region in which there was the most significant reduction in the number of cases was the Southeast. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of children and adolescents in this situation fell from 105,700 to 66,600 – but even with this reduction, it has maintained the second place among the regions with the most cases. The Federal District has the largest percentage reduction – 73% – followed by the states of Roraima (68.6%), Santa Catarina (62.2%) and Pernambuco (55.9%).

Currently, it is estimated that there are about 3.7 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 working in Brazil, according to the last census of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE or Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) on the subject, released on World Day of the Combat of Child Labor last year, and confirmed by the balance made this year. The consolidated data refer to 2011. Of this total, 7% perform household chores, representing 3.9% of the total number of domestic workers in the country (about 7 million people).

Source: Agência Brasil

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