Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work, a groundbreaking book authored by an interdisciplinary team of experts, incorporates recent theoretical advances and experiences to explore the place of labor in children's lives and development. It condemns the exploitation and abuse of child workers and supports the right of all children to the best quality, free education that society can afford. At the same time, the authors recognize the value, and sometimes the necessity, of work in growing up, and the reality that a "workless" childhood, without responsibilities, is not good preparation for adult life in any environment.

Preface Acknowledgments List of Figures and Tables List of Acronyms 1. Raising Questions, Questioning the Answers "When I was fired, I cried for two weeks": How Intervention Went Wrong in Morocco's Garment Industry Whose Interests? Ways of Thinking Children's Rights Knowledge, Understanding, and Information 2. Work That Children Do What Is Children's Work? What Children Say about Why They Work Concluding Comment 3. Children's Work in Historical and Comparative Perspective Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution in Britain around the Nineteenth Century Child Work, Education, and Interventions in Asia and Africa: Examples from Indonesia and Zimbabwe Children, Work, and Education in Communist Revolutions and Post-Communist Transitions International Standards and Trends in Interventions 4. Child Work and Poverty: A Tangled Relationship What Is Poverty? Defining and Measuring Labor-Force Work Many Poor Children Do Not Work for Pay Labor Supply and Labor Demand General Patterns Children's Earnings: How Much, and Who Gets Them?  Are Children Working Instead of Adults, or Undermining Adult Wages? Conditional Cash Transfers as Compensation for School Enrollment Is Child Work a Cultural Phenomenon Rather Than an Economic Necessity? The Effects of Child Work on Poverty Dynamics: How Learning Matters Does Poverty Cause Child Work? 5. Work in Children's Development Framing the Issue The Idea of Human "Development in Social Science Concluding Observations 6. Education, School, and Work "Earn-and-Learn": Tea Estates in Zimbabwe Children's Perceptions The Right to Education School as Work Problems with Schools Can School Mix with Work? Combining Labor-Force Work with School Learning through Work Conclusion 7. Children Acting for Themselves Agency of Children Street Children Independent Migration Organizations of Working Children Child Participation in Making Decisions 8. Assessing Harm against Benefits Child Domestic Work: Pros and Cons A Continuum of Harm and Benefit Intolerable Forms and Conditions of Work Assessing Hazardous Work Weighing Harm against Benefits A Note on Exploitation What Does This Mean in Practice? 9. The Politics of International Intervention The Case of Child Garment Workers in Bangladesh: Tragedy or Scandal? Stitching Footballs in Sialkot What Should Be Learned from These Experiences? Promoting and Protecting the Interests of Children Who Work: A Case in Egypt Concluding Thoughts 10. Policies and Interventions: What Should They Achieve, and How? Starting Points Principles Practice Notes  References Index