How do low-income Kurdish migrant families in Turkey negotiate child/adolescent characteristics in child labor decisions? Insights from Kurdish mothers

Abstract

As part of a larger ethnographic study, this article explored the ways lowincome Kurdish families negotiated child characteristics identified as determinants in child labor decisions. Of the 27 Kurdish mothers who participated in the larger study, 18 were included for the purpose of this article. Data for this article primarily relied on demographic surveys and indepth interviews. Mothers’ accounts showed that children’s age, birth order, gender, and school success/continuation were critical factors in the decision-making process for child labor. Older children were more likely to work. Birth order was moderated by children’s educational prospects. Gender was more critical in determining appropriate workplaces for girls and not whether they could work. In contrast to the existing literature, findings of this study showed that the relationship between child labor and education was bidirectional. More specifically, while child labor affected education, children’s school success/attendance also shaped child labor decisions. Mothers’ accounts also pointed to the complex and dynamic family processes that took into account children’s and families’ unique circumstances. As a result, this article offered a deeper understanding of family processes behind child labor decisions, which in turn had important policy and practice implications.