Jody Heymann - Childrens chances : how countries can move from surviving to thriving

Childrens Chances

How Countries Can Move from Surviving to Thriving

J ODY H EYMANN

with Kristen McNeill

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England 2013

Copyright 2013 by Jody Heymann

All rights reserved

Jacket photograph Aneel Brar

Jacket design by Lisa Roberts

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Heymann, Jody, 1959

Childrens chances : how countries can move from surviving to thriving / Jody Heymann, with Kristen McNeill.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-674-06681-6 (alk. paper)

1. Child welfare. 2. ChildrenGovernment policy. 3. ChildrenSocial conditions. 4. ChildrenServices for. I. McNeill, Kristen. II. Title.

HV713.H49 2013

362.7dc23 2012030829

To children and youth, and what they teach us;

To everyone who takes the time to engage with them and the challenges and opportunities they face;

and

To our family members of every generation, who continue to help us learn.

Maps

Do citizens have a general right to education or a specific right to primary education?

Do citizens have a specific right to secondary education?

Is beginning secondary education tuition-free?

Is completing secondary education tuition-free?

How much education must lower secondary-school teachers complete?

How much education must upper secondary-school teachers complete?

How much do governments spend on education?

How long are children protected from hazardous work?

If exceptions are taken into account, how long are children protected from hazardous work?

How long are children protected from full-time work?

How long are children protected from working 6 or more hours on a school day?

How long are children guaranteed 12 hours off from work at night?

If exceptions are taken into account, what work protections do 14-year-olds have?

How long are girls protected from marriage compared with boys?

Do countries have strong coverage of preventive health measures in early childhood?

How many physicians, nurses, and midwives are available?

How many dentistry personnel are available?

What proportion of the population is covered by publicly funded health insurance in OECD countries?

Does the constitution take any approach to health?

How much do governments spend on health care?

Is paid leave available for mothers of infants?

Is paid leave available for fathers of infants?

Are mothers of infants guaranteed breastfeeding breaks at work?

Can working parents take leave to meet childrens health needs?

Can working parents take leave for childrens educational needs?

What is the wage premium for night work?

At what level are minimum wages set?

Has minimum-wage growth kept pace with productivity growth?

Is income protection during unemployment available?

Do families receive income support?

Do constitutions take at least one approach to gender equity?

Do constitutions take at least one approach to equity across ethnicity?

Do constitutions take at least one approach to equity across religion?

Do constitutions take at least one approach to equity across disability?

Do constitutions guarantee disabled childrens right to education?

Is inclusive special education available for children with disabilities?

Are benefits available to families with disabled children?

Tables

Childrens rights to education in national constitutions

Policies affecting enrollment in primary, secondary, and higher education

Teachers, teacher preparation, and expenditures

Legal protections against hazardous work for children

Legal protections regulating childrens hours of work

Legal protections against child marriage

Legal protections from work for children at ages 12, 14, and 16

Overall protection of children in work, marriage, and education at ages 12, 14, and 16

Prevention policies in early childhood

Prevention policies in youth

Access to public health and medical-care services

Constitutional protections of health rights

Workplace policies before and after childbirth

Workplace policies to meet the needs of older children

Ensuring an income floor for working parents and their children

Ensuring income protections for families during unemployment

Providing financial assistance to families with children

Overall constitutional protection of equity

Constitutional guarantees of equality in education

Constitutional guarantees of broad nondiscrimination at work

Constitutional guarantees of nondiscrimination in hiring, promotion, and working conditions

Constitutional guarantees of rights for children and adults with disabilities

Financial and educational support for children with disabilities

Chapter 1

If we were to care as much about the worlds children as we care about our own, we would measure success not only by child mortality rates, primary-school enrollment, and the prevalence of hazardous child labor, but also by success in school, access to advanced education, comprehensive measures of physical health and development, and social and emotional well-being. For millions of the worlds children, we are failing at the basics, well before children have a chance at anything close to opportunity. Too many children are dying before their fifth birthday, do not have enough to eat, are living without access to clean water, do not have the chance to go to school, or are doing hazardous work. These tend to be the maximum boundaries of the worlds attention. But even more children fall ill with preventable diseases, do not have the chance to get the kind of education that would allow them to exit poverty, work for too many hours to be able to study, or experience discrimination that limits their options. We need to address both the most basic threats to childrens lives and those that decimate opportunities. Part of what has kept the world from setting more than child survival and primary school as global goals have been doubts about what is realistic.