Employment of children is a common phenomenon in many developing countries, including Turkey. One need not go to rural areas to see children engaged in economic activities. In cities, they work as street vendors, as apprentices, and as service sector workers in restaurants and the like. Female children are primarily employed in agriculture, both as wage earners and unpaid family workers, and in textile manufacturing. Male children are more evenly spread out among a dozen or so activities, though underrepresented in agricultural work and in textiles – the female domain.

The first two …