IE 2B4 Children and Family in National and International Context

2009-2010

26/11/2009Clotilde Giner

Fleer, M, Hedegaard M and J. Tudge, eds. (2009) Childhood studies and the impact of globalization: policies and practices at global and local levels, Volume 2009 of World year book of education, Routledge

Prout, A (2005) The future of childhood: towards the interdisciplinary study of children (Chapter 1: Changing childhood in a globalizing world)

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Two-week examination of the relationships between globalisation and childhood:

1st week: Confronting ideals of global childhood with reality

2nd week: Considering the effects of globalisation on children’s lives nationally and internationally

Objective: Gain an awareness of how childhoods are changing from a global perspective

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The image of the « global » child and attempts to export it globally

Uneven distribution of ideal childhood across the world: the diversity of children’s experiences

Children as social actors Towards a « global-local » image of

childhood

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Children as a priority category:- 1/3 of the global population (1/2 in developing

countries)- Serious implications for public services and for

the future - Children as ‘the source of the last remaining

[…] primary relationship’ (Beck 1992: 118)- In the North: the emotionally priceless child

(Zelizer 1985)

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Biological development Childhood as a category fixed by social

practices of custom and by law: Age 18 = universal threshold, as enshrined

in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

This threshold has no social meaning in many parts of the world

The child as a social construct

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Philippe Ariès’ Centuries of Childhood (1962): “In medieval societies the idea of childhood did not exist” (Ariès 1962: 125)

Emergence in Europe of childhood as a separate stage between 15th and 18th century

Gradual spread through all social classes Stephens (1995): “The particular form of

modern childhood is socially and historically specific”

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Characteristics - (sexual) Innocence, vulnerability- Emotional and financial dependency on the

family Activities- Education and schooling- Play

Childhood as time of innocence, free of cares and responsibility

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Separation from the adult world

A Northern construct exported to the South ? (Boyden 1997)

- Innocent child victim vs. Young deviant (street children (Glauser 1997))

- Universal system of entitlement based on these norms

A construct informing both: - Human rights legislation at the international level- Welfare and education programmes at the national

level

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Universal system of rights for the child based on Western-based norms of childhood

The UNCRC as the product of Western States? (Van Bueren 1995)

Universal ratification: a single conception of childhood cutting across 190 countries…

…or a text that is ambiguous enough to give space to local interpretation?

A holistic and complex picture of childhood

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Representation of childhood under crisis: - Ideal childhood unevenly distributed across

the world- Vast disparities in the social and economic

conditions of children’s lives Importance of understanding the social,

economic, political and cultural context of childhood

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Least developed countries

Developing countries

Industrialised countries

% of population below $1 a day (1993-2003)

41% 22% Close to zero

Life expectancy at birth 52 65 79

% using improved drinking water sources, 2002

58% 79% 100%

Unicef 2006

1 billion children live in poverty: 1 in 2 children in the world

Least developed countries

Developing countries

Industrialised countries

Under five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births, 2004)

155 per 1,000 87 per 1,000 6 per 1,000

Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births, 2004)

98 per 1,000 59 per 1,000 5 per 1,000

Proportion of under-fives moderately or severely underweight (%, 1996-2004)

36% 27% Close to zero

Net primary school enrolment/attendance % (1996-2004)

60% 80% 95%

Child labour (5-14 years) (%, 1999-2004)

28% 18%Excludes China

Appr. 1.2%

Child marriage (% of girls married before the age of 18, 1986-2004)

50% 36%Excludes China

Less than 4% in the US1% in Germany

26/11/2009Unicef 2006

Under-five mortality rankings (2004)

Most of these countries have experienced major armed conflicts since 1999

Countries suffering from poor governance, weak institutions with high levels of corruption, political instability and weak rule of law

Country Rank

Sierra Leone 1

Angola 2

Niger 3

Afghanistan 4

Liberia 5

Somalia 6

Mali 7

Democratic Republic of Congo

8

Equatorial Guinea 9

Guinea-Bissau 10

Rwanda 10

26/11/2009 Unicef 2006

Most statistics are at the national level - showing diversity between countries

However, there are usually significant disparities in child well-being and development across geographical (rural/urban), ethnic and gender axes within countries. (Unicef 2006)

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High levels of child poverty:- In the 30 OECD countries, around 12% of all

children were at risk of poverty in the mid 2000s

- One in three UK children live in poverty today: that’s over 4 million children. 

- A quarter of children in London live in households where no one is working

Non-native children are found to be particularly disadvantaged at school

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Children as social actors:The common characteristics of children worldwide?

Children’s agency as a key contributor to their development

- Role within the family- Role in economic growth and poverty

reduction Instances of denial of children’s agency

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“A wholeness approach”: considering childhood and children in interdependent relation to their activities, institutional practices, and societal conditions (Fleer, Hedegaard and Tudge 2009)

- Understanding children in their everyday activities in local communities

- Understanding children as sharing global aspects of childhood

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Little knowledge of how childhoods are constructed locally

Need to explore other dimensions of childhood: tendency to define them by what they aren’t rather than by what they are

e.g. Exploration of young peoples’ sexual health and child household headship in Zimbabwe (Kesby et al. 2006)

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Discussion in groups of individual child case-studies Objective: Looking at the diversity of children’s

lives as well as common patterns among children Look at children’s experiences and lives:- Type of activities - Children as social actors (children exerting agency…)- Family relationships and social networks - Influence of the social and political context- Impact of the local environment, gender, race, social origin… - Feelings and hopes for the future

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