As shown in the following Table, compiled by the ILO Bureau of Statistics, girls are to be found labouring alongside boys in almost all sectors. Girls are also less likely to receive payment for their work, and therefore to receive the benefits and bargaining power that come with access to economic resources, including the ability to access an income with which to get an education. If they do receive payment, they are also less likely to keep the income they earn. The concern regarding the specific vulnerabilities of girls is reflected in the new Convention and Recommendation on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which were adopted unanimously by the constituent members of the ILO in June 1999. In particular, several Articles and paragraphs make explicit reference to the need to take account of the special situation of girls, while others make implicit reference to areas where girls are likely to be found working.
Girls also are far less likely to receive any form of basic education.
Even if they are attending school, girls are almost twice as likely to be tired from the burden of housework, to the extent that full participation in class is limited. This leads to higher dropout rates, lower school enrolment rates and early marriages for girls compared to boys. This is not to minimize the experience of boys, nor to suggest that boys should be excluded, but it is only through a gender perspective that captures the different experiences of child labourers, that the special needs that arise from those experiences can be addressed. So far, IPEC programmes have been carried out for working girlsin bonded labour, prostitution, domestic work and manufacturing. Where the forms of work are clearly hazardous, the most immediate recourse is to remove them from such work, rehabilitate them and reintegrate them into family, community and society.