Home / Economics and Development

Economics and Development

Economics and Development

Although it is well accepted that sex work and poverty, stigma and inequality are linked, too often simplistic assumptions about these factors lead to ineffective, and even harmful, programmes and policies. PLRI aims to establish broader understandings of the economics of sex work and relate them to the challenges of optimising the benefits of economic programs and policies on development, human rights and public health outcomes. We are also committed to helping establish broader understandings of the economics of the sex sector, the demand for, and supply of, commercial sex; the factors that determine prices and behaviours within sex industries, the economic re-distributional effects of commercial sex and the impact of economic trends on people that buy, sell or trade sexual services. To achieve this PLRI research will analyse sex work economies as they relate to social protection, livelihoods strengthening and equitable development policy and programming.

Resources

  • '70% sex workers opt for prostitution' - 2011

    This news story was written by Aarefa Johari for the Hindustan Times on the 1 May 2011. The story is a write up of the launch of the 'First pan-India survey of sex workers', conducted by Pune University academicians Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar.

  • 'Better pay 'drives' women to prostitution' - 2011

    A news story in the Times of India by Anahita Mukherji which highlights our research on sex work's position in the labour market in India. This story was published on Labour Day, or May Day, 2011.

  • 70 per cent women enter flesh trade voluntarily: study - 2011

    An article in the Indian Express by Shruti Nambiar on the 3 May 2011.

    Pune: Seventy per cent of women sex workers are not pushed or forced into flesh trade but are drawn to it by the lure of higher income, according to the preliminary result of a survey released by women’s group Akshara.

    The preliminary results of the first leg of a pan-India study being conducted by two University of Pune researchers was released on April 30.

  • An Exploratory Study of the Social Contexts, Practices and Risks of Men Who Sell Sex in Southern and Eastern Africa - 2011

    The aim of the research presented in this report was to explore the social contexts, life experiences, vulnerabilities and sexual risks experienced by men who sell sex in Southern and Eastern Africa, with a focus on five countries; Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It sought to better understand differing and similar socio-cultural scenarios and personal life stories of male sex workers in these countries and to improve the representation of male sex workers in relevant regional organisations, particularly within the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA).

  • Better livelihood prospect drives poor Indian women to prostitution - 2011

    An article by Subir Ghosh in Digital World published on the 1 May 2011.

    New Delhi, India. Four out of five female sex workers in India have joined the profession voluntarily; they were not forced or sold into it. Prostitution is just one among several livelihood options available to women from poor backgrounds, says a new survey.

  • Choice in the labour market – sex work as “work” - 2011

    A blog post by Nivedita Menon on Kafila, 6 May 2011.

    The summary of preliminary findings of the first pan-India survey of sex-workers is now available on-line.  3000 women from 14 states and 1 UT were surveyed, all of them from outside collectivised/organised and therefore politically active spaces, precisely  “in order to bring forth the voices of a hitherto silent section of sex workers.”

    The significant finding is this: About 71 percent of them said they had entered the profession willingly.

  • Cost effectiveness of targeted HIV prevention interventions for female sex workers in India - 2011

    Article in Sex. Transm. Infect. 2011;87:263.

    Objective To ascertain the cost effectiveness of targeted interventions for female sex workers (FSW) under the National AIDS Control Programme in India.

  • Demystifying Sex Work and Sex Workers - 2011

    Wagadu, an open access online feminist journal, has released a special issue 'Demystifying sex work and sex workers.' With articles from activist scholars the special issue, focuses on the everyday lives of sex workers.

    Susan Dewey of the University of Wyoming who edited the issue explains, "While recent years have witnessed a dramatic outpouring of feminist scholarship that situates sex work within its broader socioeconomic and political contexts cross-culturally, there remains a tendency for academic scholarship to unconsciously reinforce the social stigmatization of sex workers by depicting them solely through their income-earning activities. This burgeoning research has convincingly demonstrated that sex work is embedded in a complex social matrix that often centers upon sex workers’ perceptions of their individual choices and responsibilities...Public policy on sex work is often shown to be seriously lacking when contextualized within the broader realities of many sex workers’ everyday life experiences throughout the world. As such, contributors to this special issue offer sound ethnographic evidence that clearly demonstrates the global need for policy and legal reform with respect to sex work."

  • Draft of new Global Declaration on the Rights of Sex Workers - 2011

     The following is a draft declaration on sex workers rights and introductory article. Thank you very much to those who made inputs. 

    The process  used to develop this was to copy the ICRSE declaration format and cut and paste material from all documents together into the sections then edit them down to about 20% of the length. This means that the document attached comprises sentences and bits of sentences from various documents by sex workers and allies. 

  • Enhancing Withdrawal Cognition Through Client-Centred Approach in HIV/AIDS Pandemic Risk Reduction Among Commercial Sex Workers in Oyo State, Nigeria. - 2011

    The study adopted client–centred approach to enhance withdrawal cognition in commercial sex workers in four Local Government Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria. Withdrawal Cognition Scale by Laim and Tabaka (1995) was used to elicit information from 160 sex workers in four randomly selected Local Government Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to control the spread of HIV/AIDS among sex workers who earn their living in the sex trade. The study also aims to give them knowledge and skills required to earn a living from less dangerous activities.

Syndicate content