The Problem

Around the world, women involved in sex work (henceforth sex workers), irrespective of whether they are street-based, brothel-based, or home-based, disproportionately experience gender-based violence. The forms of violence faced by sex workers vary across types of sex work (for instance, home-based versus street-based) and range from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by clients, non-paying intimate partners, and by police. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many sex workers consider violence “normal” or “part of the job” and therefore are often reluctant to report incidences of rapes, murder (attempted or otherwise), beatings, molestation, or sexual assault to authorities.

Violence is a manifestation of the stigma and discrimination experienced by sex workers; it transcends international borders. Laws governing prostitution and law enforcement authorities are key to mitigating the violence experienced by sex workers. In most countries, sex work is either illegal or has an ambiguous legal status. For example, in India and the United Kingdom, prostitution is not illegal, but procurement of sex workers and soliciting in public is illegal. That is, in India, it is legal to offer sexual services to anyone for money. However, this must be a direct trade. A third party cannot take commission from the woman’s earnings by maintaining brothels or pimping. Sex workers are therefore, frequently regarded as easy targets for harassment and violence by clients, partners, the public, and the police as they are considered immoral and deserving of punishment. The WHO also notes that sex work is associated with a high risk of HIV infection because the prevalence of violence and HIV/AIDS are interlinked. In this chapter, we discuss the problem of violence against sex workers and make eight recommendations for solutions to help combat this global issue.

Research Evidence

Research from Bangladesh, Namibia, India, and elsewhere, as reported by WHO, shows that many sex workers, particularly those who work on the streets, report being beaten, threatened with a weapon, slashed, choked, raped, and coerced into sex. However, perpetrators of the violence vary.