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| Date Added to Site: 20th January 2006 | ||
| Short Summary | ||
| Title | Sex Workers Struggles in Bangladesh: Learnings for the Women’s Movement | |
| Author | Huq, S. | |
| Publication Date | September 2005 | |
| Short Summary | This paper describes the involvement of Naripokkho,
a Bangladesh non-governmental organisation (NGO), in a national campaign
to support the rights of sex workers. Naripokkho supported sex workers'
efforts to defend themselves against illegal government eviction orders
from brothels in Bangladesh. The eviction resulted in 84 women's and
human rights' organisations and development NGOs forming an alliance
in support of the rights of women in sex work. The campaign achieved
several major successes: •The extensive media coverage of the campaign raised public awareness of the realities of sex work and the demands of sex workers; •The term 'prostitute' was replaced in the media by that of 'sex worker'. This led to a new understanding of sex workers as socially acceptable holders of rights engaged in a legitimate occupation, rather than as objects of pity and moral disgust; •The campaign forged a new solidarity between the 'mainstream' women's movement and sex workers, and led to the acceptance of sex workers' groups in national networks of women's organisations; •The involvement of intersex persons in the sexual rights campaign challenged conventional ideas about what constitutes a woman; •A successful legal case against the eviction was launched, and a landmark ruling pronounced the eviction as illegal and implicitly recognised sex work within brothels to be legal. Summary written in collaboration with the Eldis Gender Guide (www.eldis.org/gender) |
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