By: Elise Swanson, Hannah Johnson, and Chloe Boswell
What happens when the law conflicts with societal customs and norms? This is the question my team and I researched this semester. Specifically, we researched how provisions of two statutes addressing child labor in Ghana, the Children’s Act and the Human Trafficking Act, conflict with customs and norms in the country.
Through our research, we concluded that there are fundamental definitional conflicts that complicate child labor conversations and enforcement of child labor laws. For instance, the definition of “child” in Ghana is not concrete. The two statutes are based on international law, which defines a child as someone under age eighteen. However, the term “child” is relative in Ghanian society. Adulthood is determined not by achieving a certain age, but by maturity, behavior, independence, development, completion of school, attainment of a salaried job, etc. Ghanian society thus treats adulthood as subjective, rather than objective and definable by age.
Similarly, the difference between “labor” and “work” is a difficult line. Work is considered necessary to a child’s socialization, education, and responsibility. Child work, which helps children gain useful skills, is generally accepted. Child labor is work that is harmful to the physical and mental development of the child and deprives them of their childhood. Tasks that we, from a Western perspective, would consider child labor are considered work in Ghana, and are believed to be necessary for a child’s socialization and development of life skills.
This project has changed how I understand the limitations on enforcement of the law. I used to think that, in Ghana, limitations on enforcement included external factors such as lack of knowledge about child labor laws, lack of funding for police, limited access to education, and poverty. While these are causes of child, labor, they are not the main issue. In actuality, the main issue has deeper roots.
The adherence to Western notions of child labor is incompatible with reality in Ghana. The law is not being enforced because people do not believe that any law is being broken. Even if they have knowledge of the legal age of adulthood, culturally people might consider children younger than eighteen adults. They might consider the “labor” done by children work that is necessary for the child’s development.
This policy disconnect between Western concepts and traditional notions of childhood shows that limitations and gaps in enforcement may run deeper than purely external factors. Instead, they may be due to a fundamental difference in the way the world is perceived. This research shaped my understanding of how the law does not exist apart from culture and must address societal customs and norms to be effective.
This post was written by a student at Regent University School of Law. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.