Social Inequalities and Child Labor

Abstract

This article derives from a research project being carried out in the Corrientes Province, which has a big population at risk of social vulnerability.

The study seeks to determine how working children’s health and education are affected and find out the policies for social and educational inclusion of working boys and girls. Contents focus on inequalities and their agents, and the social processes and political institutions promoting the defense of children’s rights and the eradication of child labor. Data analysis is based on political documents, newspaper articles, statistics, and interviews with government officers and qualified university and social organization informants. The impact of regional inequalities on the appearence and increase of child labor is assessed. Aconclusion is drawn which asserts that child labor is a consequence of differential economic policies and national subsidies, togehter with the administrative, technical, political, and financial incapacity of the State to implement inter-ministerial policies aimed at a comprehensive children’s protection and the eradication of child labor.