The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision.pdf - Tanzania ...

Table 3–6. Household chores and lack of school attendanceCondition of activity Population, 12-14 years old Population, 15-17 years oldTotal24,07317,55072.9Boys5,3893,51265.2Girls18,68414,03875.1Total41,91236,06986.1Boys5,7314,72882.5Girls36,18131,34186.6Household choresDo not attend school%Source: Table 3–6 is based on the study Trabajo infantil y adolescente peligroso en Costa Rica, IPEC/ILO, 2003.teachers (see Figure 3–1)—is that they have to completehousehold work.Girls who asserted that they are devoted to householdchores are less likely to attend school (see Table 3–6).The data show that the number of girl children who dohousework at home is much larger than that of boys, andthat these girls are less likely to attend school. Interviewswith families confirmed that, in general, girls help withhousework more frequently than boys.Specifically, the female child population faces working conditionsthat the ILO would rate as questionable and deficient.Washing clothes and dishes, sweeping, cooking, andso forth are household activities, which are not remuneratedand are not considered to be a formal job. The activitiescarried out by boys and girls show the inequalities thatexist between them. Child labour is also directly related topoverty and demographic factors.The family interviews in the first stage of the researchyielded interesting results. In the case of La Cruz, 100per cent of the girls help with home chores, as comparedto 55 per cent of the boys. Most of the child population isbetween 6 and 15 years of age. This shows that the differencedoes not lie in the young age of minors, since it is inthe 0–5 range that a low number of children is found. So itis probable that cultural patterns determine this situation.Santa Cruz is similar, with 100 per cent of the girls helpingat home, as compared to 43 per cent of the boys. Only 10per cent of the girls and 14 per cent of the boys are between0 and 5 years of age, so this confirms that boys donot help due to gender.This big cultural difference between girls and boys in theallocation of roles in the family is the main factor that affectsgirls’ education. In rural areas many of these discriminatoryroles are not just tolerated but also replicated bymany of the social actors at the local level.As far as boys are concerned, the second reason for notattending school most often cited by teachers (28per cent) (see Figure 3–1 above) is that they have to workin other production activities.According to the IPEC/ILO study, child labour directly affectsthe education of girls and boys, mainly in rural areas.The cantons that show a higher rate of child labour thanthe national average are mostly rural; it is mainly in theseareas that early incorporation into the labour force takesplace in a more intense way. These are mainly border andcoastal cantons. 5 In Costa Rica, 71.2 per cent of the economicallyactive population between 12 and 17 years ofage is rural. 6Other related factors could influence the attendance andperformance of girls and boys in the educational system.Many homes in the cantons under study are headed byfathers or mothers who have not finished primary or secondaryschool. This is a big limitation for children, becauseparents are their models and references in terms of education.The level of encouragement and assistance suchfathers and mothers can give their children is lower thanin homes where parents have reached high academic levels.The data of the Information System of Target Population(SIPO) 7 indicate that of the 28,120 female-headed familiesunder the line of poverty, 16.8 per cent of the mothershave no school education, 70 per cent have an incompleteor complete primary school education, and 5.4 per centhave an incomplete secondary school education. Thus,only 7.8 per cent have completed secondary school.64 The Girl-Child and Government Service Provision