When Childhood is not a Child’s Play: Descriptive Study on the Self-Concept of Female Child Domestic Workers

Abstract

Child labor is one of the issues that Third World countries such as the Philippines, is currently facing. This issue is really hard to resolve because child labor is one of the cheapest forms of labor, and, because parents encourage children to join the work force for the survival of the family. One of the risky forms of child labor is domestic work. Though it may seem as an extension of children’s duties, domestic work poses threat on the physical and mental well-being of the child. The eradication of domestic work in the country is a difficult task to do: they are everywhere but they are invisible in the Philippine economy. This study provides a description on the self-concept of female child domestic workers who are currently based in Metro Manila. Results from this study are based on selfreports of seven child domestic workers. Following Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development, the study assumed that the self-concept of a child domestic worker can be depicted based on one’s experiences and interactions in the following domains: being a child domestic worker, being a family member, and being an individual. Results show that the three domains affect each other in the development of the self-concept of the child domestic worker. Moreover, the environments where the child domestic workers are exposed to do not cater their full potential and their psychosocial development is affected by the limited time and resources that they have.