Developing Economies

Many post-colonial societies are still struggling to join the global economy that began its rapid development during the Industrial Revolution. For political and economic reasons, a great majority of them are at a technological disadvantage in catching up to "early developing countries," those that got a head start in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, most developing countries export primary goods such as minerals, petroleum, and cash crops (coffee, cocoa, bananas). Of course, many developing countries today also export labor.

Woman's Work

Women tend to dominate the informal sector of developing countries (industries such as street vending and petty trading). Informal economies are both less lucrative than wage labor, and do not offer protection against illness or other disruptions to income. Women in these industries earn substantially less than men who have access to skilled labor, clerical, and professional jobs. In addition to working for income, women also maintain household duties and childcare responsibilities, which of course are unpaid. When female children are of schooling age, a gender bias will often keep them in the home helping their mothers, rather than attending school.

Children's Work

In many developing countries, no middle class exists. There is a very small elite, and everyone else. The indigenous peoples of a country are often at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy. Land ownership disputes have displaced the indigenous peoples of many regions of Central America, forcing farmers off their land and into urban areas in search of work. As urbanization accelerates, there is an increasing role for children as economic contributors to poor households. Common economic activities for children are sewing and vending textiles, laundering clothes, and shoe shining. More dangerous occupations involve working in factories. An insidious implication of child labor is that children who are working are not in school, and are becoming stuck in an intergenerational cycle of poverty.