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Abstract :
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Personal observations of the position of child labor in the organization of outwork in Naples, Italy, are offered, based on a paper presented during a Feb 1985 conference on "The Protection of Children" (see Anthropology Today, 1985, June). Outwork, the last link in a chain of subcontracting from various industrial/commercial enterprises, is often performed by children, who are under the legal age limit for employment; as subcontractors, they are subject to labor practices & workplace safety/hygiene conditions that are substandard because they avoid state or local regulation. Parents, however, are often willing to have their children perform such outwork; the SE structure of Naples (& southern Italy as a whole) & individual family financial considerations are implicated. It is argued that though economic necessity is a prime influence, it must be understood within the broader social context & relative to ideological factors, particularly those concerning Fs: the DofL between adult Ms & Fs & the position of women in society, the desire to control F sexuality through careful monitoring of their activities & whereabouts, the importance of marriage & the necessity of accumulating a corredo (dowry) for a young girl, & the lack of importance placed on formal education for Fs. 18 References. K. Hyatt
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