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Dear do-gooders, you can't get rid of child labour just by banning it

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

In the 1920/30s the school leaving age in England was 14 - unless you were bright enough to pass the school certificate a year early at 13. This meant that it was intelligent working class children who were most likely to be put into menial work at that age. See the opening chapters of James Hanley's 1931 novel "Boy" for a harrowing description.

In some cultures as household income rises it is the father who gets more leisure time and the money to finance his pleasures. Household wealth may also be accumulated in order to provide a dowry to effectively sell off their daughters who are regarded as a liability. One daughter is often retained as an unpaid servant to her ageing parents - a practice common in the UK until about the 1970s.

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