Presentation Schedule
Vulnerability of Child Domestic Workers in Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice (96657)
Session Chair: Rattaakkhatee Akkharateerathitiphum
Friday, 7 November 2025 13:35
Session: Session 3
Room: Room G (4F)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
This paper discusses the precarious conditions faced by child laborers, who are among the modern-day slaves. I will begin with the real-life situation of child laborers in Nigeria, where the story is set. I argue that dire poverty, gender inequality, frequent wars, low school enrollment rates, and the cultural practice of early marriage have led to the trafficking of many children into labor markets, most of them into the worst forms of labor that should be banned. I will further examine how Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice reflects these issues by analyzing the experiences of the main character, Adunni, a 14-year-old girl who is first sold into marriage and then into domestic servitude. In contrast to other girls who have forsaken their dreams, as a trafficked victim, Adunni never gives up the hope of attending school and becoming a teacher, although she, too, has experienced physical, verbal, mental, and sexual abuse. The novel’s ending, in which Adunni receives a scholarship and is set to attend school, underscores the importance of education and echoes the position of the International Labor Organization: that only education can enable social mobility.
Authors:
Chia-Chen Kuo, Tamkang University, Taiwan
About the Presenter(s)
Professor Chia-Chen Kuo is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Tamkang University in Taiwan
See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule
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