Causes and nature of use and abuse of under-aged house helps: an evidence

Abstract

This paper explored the demand for, and utilization of the services of under-age house helps in Ikeja and Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Areas of Lagos State, Nigeria. The initial total sample of two hundred (200) career and non career women were randomly drawn from the study area. However, a total of one hundred and twenty (120) actually participated in the study on the basis of interest and availability. The instrument used to elicit information from the subjects was a structured questionnaire designed by the researcher. The instrument revealed reliability Croncbach Alpha r = 0.8. Descriptive statistics such as frequency tables, percentages were employed in analyzing primary data. The findings revealed that about 69% career, and 74.1% non-career women showed high preference for female house helps, especially within 15 – 18 years age bracket. In addition, the results revealed causes of demand for house helps as strategies to combat conflict arising from office duties and family responsibilities. They also showed that about 60% earn between N2,000.00 – N5,000.00 per month which was net savings, for most of the house helps. Finally, findings showed that there is no meeting of minds on what constitutes abuse of house helps by their employers. House help job therefore constitutes a veritable source of capital formation for the under-aged and/or their parents.

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Vol. 9(2) 2006: 201-216