Children at work in rural northern Nigeria: patterns of age, space and gender

Children are increasingly recognised by geographers and other social scientists as independent actors who make valuable (albeit often overlooked) economic contributions to households and society. Hausa children in rural Northern Nigeria are highly mobile and play important economic roles supporting married women who spend much time in their walled residences (gida) because of the local socio-religious practice of Muslim seclusion. Secluded Hausa women have low mobility and do not attend local periodic markets, but make essential day-to-day purchases from child house-to-house hawkers while sending children on errands to make purchases on their behalf. This study shows how children work both independently and alongside adults in the spheres of agricultural production (on farms), domestic reproduction (in homesteads) and trade (within markets). The research reported documents the variety of childrenʹs work activities, predominantly through time use measurement, in order to examine aspects of the socio-spatial construction of childhood in a rural Northern Nigerian community. This is innovative on two counts. First, most earlier discussions of divisions of labour in Muslim Hausaland neglect both the work of children, and reproductive work. Second, even work that considers reproduction, or childrenʹs work, does not provide detailed time measurements of reproductive burdens. The paper examines divisions of childrenʹs labour and analyses how gender, space, age and other factors shape young peopleʹs experiences of rural life. The evidence presented here of children as competent agents making significant economic contributions in rural society challenges prevailing conceptions of children as mere dependent burdens on adult society.