Child Domestic Work

Child domestic workers are children under the age of 18 who work in other people’s households doing domestic chores, caring for children, and running errands. Paid in cash or in-kind, they typically live in their employers’ homes. Most child domestic workers are female. Indeed, child [Page 216]domestic work (CDW) is often referred to as the most common occupation for teenage girls in the Global South (generally, Third-World countries).

This entry is divided into four parts. The first section provides an overview of CDW, including its beneficial and harmful aspects. The two subsequent sections explain how understandings of CDW have been influenced by (a) feminist perspectives on care work and (b) broader research directions in childhood studies and children’s geographies. The final section discusses the disjuncture between ...