Sex workers are humans too!

B. David

Manjamma, a female sex worker, echoed the feelings of the community saying that the denial of housing rights for sex workers is the mosturgent need to be addressed by the Government. She was testifying at the public hearing conducted jointly by Karnataka Sex Workers Union and Sangama at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday.

She said that hundreds of sex workers are forced to sleep in bus stands and streets in the night braving cold and rain amidst violence and extortion by police and goondas. Most sex workers live in rented houses and it is a big financial burden on them.

A jury comprising eminent personalities and progressive leaders heard the voices of female sex workers, who spoke about their horrifying experiences about how sex workers are facing violence and denial of citizenship rights. The jury members included poet, feminist activist Mamta Sagar, former Karnataka Backward Classes Commission chairperson and senior advocate C.S. Dwarkanath, renowned senior advocate and former state Pubic prosecutor B.T. Venkatesh, garments and textiles workers union president Prathibha R, and feminist thinker, activist Madhu Bhushan.

Expert witness Manohar Elavarthi, political activist and state general secretary of Swaraj Abhiyan, spoke about the reasons for women from illiterate and vulnerable backgrounds choosing sex work, because it is economically lucrative than other forms of labour available to them like domestic work, garment factory work, agricultural labour etc. This choice of work by sex workers should be recognised by the state as a service industry work and provide all the benefits that other workers are entitled to including workplace safety, creche facility for children, PF and ESI.

The struggle of citizenship for sex workers in the city now also includes their right to their city. Public spaces in the city have increasingly been permitted only to those ‘legitimate’ individuals and social groups who ‘fit-in’ into this imagined city. We need to accept how important the city is for sex work, as much as we need to accept how important sex work is for the city said expert witnesses Neethi P, faculty, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and Anant Kamath, faculty, National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS).

Sex Workers also deposed on police violence, goonda violence, economic exploitation by brothel owners, brokers (‘pimps’), lodge owners and auto drivers. They also highlighted the problems faced by aged sex workers, education-nutrition and day-care for children of sex workers, problems faced due to Covid19 and consequences, reproductive and sexual health services and challenges faced by sex workers living with HIV.

“Covid brought a long struggle to survive in the face of the twin threats of contagion and unemployment and the difficulties encountered when attempting to access formal government assistance like ration. Loss of income due to loss of work, food insecurity for themselves and their dependents, and other factors impacting sex workers’ livelihoods included displacement or migration. Many sex workers faced eviction from their homes as they could not pay rent and children of sex workers had to drop out of schools,” mentioned Kavitha one of the testifiers.

Sex workers also revealed the lack of access to medical services like right to abortion (MTP), hysterectomy due to high stigma and are forced to shell out huge bribes. Also, the government is providing ART, which is highly toxic and requires proper nutrition for people living with HIV, but nutrition is not being provided.

The jury felt that a committee of legal experts should be formed to force the government to declare sex work as work. Building allies to support the sex worker movement’s demands should be strengthened. Union is not just to demand things from the government, but collectivisation brings unity and strength to the community. We can achieve anything through unity and struggle, the voices together.

Around 200 people including 120 sex workers passed a resolution to approve the recommendation of Dwarkanath Report to include sex workers in the BC 2A category. And all