Hidden Hands: International Perspectives on Children's Work and Labour. (Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus)

Phillip Mizen, Christopher Pole and Angela Boldten, eds., Hidden Hands: International Perspectives on Children's Work and Labour. New York, Routledge Farmer, 2001. The phrase is commonly associated with exploitation, poverty, and deprivation. Most citizens of the West would argue that paid employment of children threatens healthy development, represents a violation of children's rights, and should be abolished. In fact, the majority of children in industrialized countries do work. In Canada, at least half of all young people aged 15 to 19 combine full or part time work with school, and it has been estimated that on average these minors spend 50-60 hours a week in all between academic and paid work (Tyyska, 2001). Hidden Hands is a collection of papers, many of which were presented in 1999 at a one-day conference at the University of Warwick. This slim volume, edited by Mizen, Pole and Boldten, contains eleven cutting edge contributions on the nature and impact of children's work in Britain, Germany, Norway, Russia and the Unites States. Although the work of children has existed in these countries for hundreds of years, it only began to capture the attention of researchers in the last decade, in part because of an increased interest in children's rights. This book contains a range of offerings, including reviews of the literature and original qualitative and quantitative research. Not only does Hidden Hands do an excellent job of representing the diversity of methodologies in this emerging area of study, it highlights the various debates that dominate the literature. The book identifies important and provocative issues for scholars, policy makers and practitioners in Youth Protection and Education. Some of the questions raised by this collection include the following: Should child labour be abolished and would this really benefit the young people who work? Are work and schooling mutually exclusive? Is work always a negative experience? Can child workers contribute to the family income without sacrificing their development? Has, in fact, a pejorative view of child labour on the part of social service workers and the legal system disadvantaged working children beyond their personal circumstances? Among the most compelling positions set forward by these authors, is that child labour has been hidden in Western societies because we have tended to romanticize childhood, choosing to view it as a period of carefree dependency. Because of socially constructed notions, the productivity of children has been rendered invisible. This, in turn, marginalises working children and exposes them to unregulated and poor working conditions. It also has resulted in harsh treatment by youth court judges and social workers. There is ample evidence cited in this collection that child labour can be a positive experience, both for children and their families, and that, most often, it represents a choice on the part of the child worker. …

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