Peer-reviewed article
Predicting Child-Labour Risks by Norms in India
Jihye Kim, Wendy Kay Olsen, Arkadiusz Wiśniowski ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how social and gender norms influence child labour in India. Using data from two national surveys, researchers developed a statistical model to predict child-labour risk based on different types of norms. The findings show that norms supporting women's work and benevolent attitudes reduce child labour risk, while seclusion norms increase it. The research suggests that changing restrictive gender norms could help reduce child labour.
Key points
- Norms supportive of women's work are associated with reduced child-labour risk
- Benevolent attitude norms help reduce the risk of child labour
- Seclusion norms show an opposite association, increasing child-labour risk
- Child-labour practices vary because people accept or reject norms differently within their social structure
- Transformation of restricted gender norms could help reduce child labour in India
Limitations
The study is correlational and cannot establish causation between norms and child labour. It does not evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention to change norms or outcomes.
Abstract
This article aims to understand how social and gender norms affect child labour in India, which is mainly defined by a work-hours threshold. It develops a regression model using two datasets – the Indian Human Development Survey 2011/2012 and the World Value Survey India 2012 – to predict child-labour risks based on such norms. The gender and development approach provides a theoretical foundation for applying norms in association with social and gender relations. The results of the regression model have revealed that a norm supportive of women’s work and a benevolent attitude norm help reduce the risk of child labour. In contrast, seclusion norms show an opposite association with child labour. Child-labour practices are varied because agents accept or deny norms as part of the social structure. Our findings confirm that the transformation of restricted norms on gender could help reduce child labour in India.