In order to understand children’s choice and decision-making in their migration for work it is necessary to understand the context in which choices and decisions are made. It has been argued that social and economic life are structured by the principles of generation (Alanen, 2003) and gender (Mayall, 2003), and this is certainly the case in Bangladesh (Aziz and Maloney, 1985). In Bangladesh, as in much of the ‘majority’ world (that is, ‘developing’ countries where the vast majority of the world’s population resides), work is central to children’s roles and responsibilities as members of households (Boyden et al., 1998; Punch, 2001; Schildkrout, 1978). Although most children work locally – boys are more likely to find paid work, but they also do unpaid work at home, and most girls engage in unpaid domestic work for their own homes – some girls and boys do, however, migrate for work to cities, peri-urban areas or to other villages for paid work or to ease the economic burden on their household.