The new exhibition at the National Museum Zurich presents the history of child labour in Switzerland, from children having to make a vital contribution to the family finances, to being exploited in factories. It also takes a look at the worldwide debate on the topic in the present day.

Child labour was an integral part of everyday life even before the industrial era. As parents didn’t earn enough to support the whole family, children had to make a contribution, whether at home, on the land, or in cottage industries. While this represented a way of being involved, their exploitation only increased from the Industrial Revolution onwards, when children as young as six worked in dangerous conditions, often up to 16 hours a day, spinning and weaving in stuffy textile factories, in the silk industry, or in fabric printing plants in the canton of Glarus. It wasn’t until 1877 that the Federal Factory Act banned children under 14 from working and limited working time to 11 hours a day.

The exhibition at the National Museum Zurich sheds light on this chapter in Switzerland’s social history. It shows how children had to work on farms, in the household and in institutions, and how society’s perception of child labour has evolved. The exhibition also recognizes those who campaigned for the education and protection of children. The introduction of compulsory schooling in 1874 was a milestone towards a new notion of childhood – moving away from economic need and towards education and development. And yet it was a long process: until well into the 20th century, children from poor families had to work in strangers’ households – as chimney sweeps in Italy or as maids, labourers or farm hands in Southern Germany. Or they were forced into foster care by the authorities. 

The exhibition ends with a look at the present. Across the world, millions of children still have to work – in mines, on cocoa plantations and in textile factories. Forms of child labour even exist in Switzerland, when young people from poor families have to contribute to the household budget or give up their entire apprentice wage. The statue of Justitia with a Superman cloak evokes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by Switzerland in 1997, which grants every child the right to protection, education and participation in decisions that affect them. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on poverty, responsibility and on the value of childhood – both in the past and the present.