Sex Workers: Political Participation
In order to measure the political participation of sex workers, I asked the women to first state whether they have registered to vote and then reveal whether they actually vote during elections. The graphs below show the aggregate answers of all the women who participated in this study.
Seventeen out of twenty two, or 77% of the participants, told me that they have registered to vote. Admittedly, I did not expect this number to be so high given that many of these women are undereducated. The five women who had not registered to vote had various reasons for their decisions. Three women just did not see the value in registering as they believed that whether or not they vote, their situation will remain the same because politicians do not care about them at all. One woman explained that she fell ill during registration time and therefore could not register. Another participant said that although she did not register, she votes during elections. Unfortunately, I did not clearly understand how this situation arose.
Out of the seventeen women who have registered, only two do not vote. The women said that they do not vote because they feel discouraged and do not believe their situation will ever change. They also explained that they fear gathering in public places and that sometimes, even if they have registered, their names do not appear on the lists and they therefore cannot vote.
Political Parties and Politicians
When discussing whether a specific political party shows more sensitivity toward their needs as sex workers, the overwhelming majority responded that no political party cares about them at all and explained that during elections no one even mentions sex workers. In the focus group discussions, some of the women also highlighted the fact that they don’t have experience with other political parties because the NRM has had power for close to thirty years, and they therefore don’t know if FDC or other parties would treat them more favorably. Only two of the women who participated in the individual interviews said that the NRM shows more sensitivity to their needs because “it is more liberal” and “their leaders try to reprimand sex workers understanding why they are doing what they are doing”.
Though many participants of the study are politically active in terms of voting, the majority of them had never tried to organize themselves in such a way that they could pressure a politician into voting in their favor. All of the women who participated in the individual interviews did not at any time participate in a group movement or campaign designed to increase their rights or the services they receive from the state. The women in the focus group discussions explained that as a group they had, on a few occasions, thrown their support behind particular candidates and helped vote them into office. They did this because the candidates took time to visit them and listen to their needs, and made promises to implement changes and support the women if they voted him or her into office. However, once in office, the candidates completely neglected the women and the promises they made. When the researcher asked if the women had ever tried pressuring an incumbent politician, they explained that they find it difficult to go to a politician and openly say that they, as sex workers, demand more rights. Instead, they have to say “we the women want x, y and z”.
Though many participants of the study are politically active in terms of voting, the majority of them had never tried to organize themselves in such a way that they could pressure a politician into voting in their favor. All of the women who participated in the individual interviews did not at any time participate in a group movement or campaign designed to increase their rights or the services they receive from the state. The women in the focus group discussions explained that as a group they had, on a few occasions, thrown their support behind particular candidates and helped vote them into office. They did this because the candidates took time to visit them and listen to their needs, and made promises to implement changes and support the women if they voted him or her into office. However, once in office, the candidates completely neglected the women and the promises they made. When the researcher asked if the women had ever tried pressuring an incumbent politician, they explained that they find it difficult to go to a politician and openly say that they, as sex workers, demand more rights. Instead, they have to say “we the women want x, y and z”.
Attitudes Toward Legalization of Sex Work
The graph below represents the attitudes of sex workers toward the legalization of sex work. The graph includes the views of all participants.
Nineteen out of twenty two women favored the legalization of sex work. In both focus group discussions, the women voted unanimously in favor of legalization while three out of the six women who participated in individual interviews viewed the legalization of sex work favorably. It must be noted that, due to the fact that sixteen of the women came from an organization which supports the legalization of sex work, the attitudes reflected in this study may not accurately represent the attitudes of the wider population of sex workers. I suspect that the results of the individual interviews, where half the women favored legalization and half did not, are more representative. The women gave two reasons as to why they favored legalization of sex work. First, they believed that legalizing sex work would give their work legitimacy and nullify the concerns they currently have over getting impounded. They also stated that there would be no reason for the media to search for them on the streets or in lodges and try to gain images or footage which could be used to publicly embarrass them. The women made it clear that they find media shaming to be almost unbearable because their identities are revealed, they get embarrassed in front of their children, and their families also suffer when they learn of what the women do for a living. They expressed frustration at the fact that the media does not try to publicly shame strippers who openly operate in bars and night clubs, but reporters and journalists go after sex workers despite the fact that work discretely and behind closed doors.