In this paper, we report on a study of the psychosocial effects of child domestic work (CDW) in six countries and the relevance of our findings to international legislation. Our results suggest that CDW is highly heterogeneous. While some young child domestic workers work long hours, suffer physical punishment and are at risk of psychosocial harm, others are able to attend school and benefit from good relationships with their employers and networks of support. Child domestic workers in India and Togo were most at risk of psychosocial harm. We conclude that classification of this employment as hazardous would not be appropriate and could be counterproductive and instead propose that legislation focuses on protective factors such as a social and community support.

The aim of the study was to explore the effects of domestic employment on the well-being of child domestic workers (CDWs) in India and the Philippines. A questionnaire was administered to 700 CDWs and 700 school-attending controls in the two countries. In India, 36% of CDWs started work before age 12, 48% worked because of poverty or to repay loans, 46% worked >10 h per day, and 31% were physically punished by employers. Filipino CDWs were mainly migrants from rural areas, 47% were working to continue their studies and 87% were attending school, compared with 35% of Indians. In India, 67% of CDWs and 25% of controls scored in the lowest tertile (p<0.001) compared with 36% and 30%, respectively, in the Philippines (p=02). Key signifi cant correlates of low psychosocial scores were non-attendance at school, long working hours, physical punishment, limited support networks and poor health. This study shows that it is not domestic work that is intrinsically harmful, but rather the circumstances and conditions of work, which could be improved through pragmatic regulatory measures.

These results suggest that very young children are exposed to potentially harmful and toxic amounts of pesticides while working. Further research is needed to assess the actual acute and chronic health impacts of such exposures.

Through the theoretical lens of a “violence continuum” we explore how, in many of the most marginalized areas of Mexico, global and regional historical and contemporary structures have shaped and constrained men’s ability to achieve the hegemonic masculinity of neoliberal Mexico. An analysis of statistics and local research studies on male homicide is used to understand how impoverishment and extreme inequality can undermine men’s capacity to access a dignified standard of living and exercise their masculinity, in the process of which many draw on interpersonal violence as a resource for respect and manhood.

This article discusses the manner in which social and historical factors impact upon indigenous conceptions of health and health-seeking behaviour, reinforcing their authoritative knowledge about birth and wellbeing. It explores how Mexican indigenous Huichol migrant labourers experience structural, everyday and symbolic violence while away working, and in their home communities. The study was based on semi-structured interviews and observations with 33 Huichol migrant labourers and 12 key informants from the community (traditional healthcare providers), health sector (medical doctors based in the highlands) and tobacco industry (farmers, tobacco union leader and pesticide sellers) during 2010-11. Findings show how the continuum of violence is experienced by these migrants as shame, timidity and humiliation, expressions of symbolic violence that have helped define their tradition of birthing alone and their feeling of entitlement to the conditional welfare payments which sustain their marginalised subsistence lifestyle. This paper proposes that there is a cyclical relationship between structural violence and authoritative knowledge as the former reinforces their adherence to a set of cultural beliefs and practices which are the basis of racial discrimination against them.