Recommendations
Organizations
The organizations which interact with sex workers should help this population get organized and encourage them to pressure incumbent politicians into giving them more rights. The fact that the majority of sex workers have already registered and actually do vote during elections makes the task much easier. Given that the women find it difficult to go to politicians and reveal their statuses as sex worker, organizations which work with these women should encourage them to elect representative or spokespeople. These representatives do not necessarily have to be sex workers as long as they sympathize with and are knowledgeable about the challenges these women face. If sex workers have the ability to go to the offices of politicians, make their needs known and, as a group, threaten to replace politicians if they do not vote in a way which makes the lives of sex workers easier, politicians may feel more inclined to pay attention to sex workers and implement changes in policies which affect this population. In this way, sex workers can hold political leaders accountable instead of feeling disillusioned and discouraged when politicians whom they supported fail to follow through on the promises they made during their campaigns.
Organizations can improve the effectiveness of the services they provide by sharing information with each other and having a dialogue with the sex workers they aim to assist. Sharing information between themselves would allow organizations to reduce duplicity of work and better enable them to view each other as partners, rather than competitors for scarce funds and resources. Organizations would also do well to share as much information with the women they aim to assist. During my time in the field, I noticed that the staff and directors of organizations knew about other organizations which assist sex workers, but the women themselves gave no indication that they knew about organizations other than their own. Additionally, if organizations asked sex workers for feedback regarding the services they provide, including rehabilitation, they would be able to cut the programs which do not benefit sex workers and use those resources to invest more in the programs which effectively assist sex workers. By providing information to each other and sex workers, organizations can reduce the amount of duplicity and competition and better cater to the needs of their target populations.
The State
The state should educate and sensitize local leaders to the causes of the sex trade and the obstacles sex workers face in their daily lives. There seems to be an understanding at higher levels of government that women often enter the sex trade out of necessity rather than choice. Furthermore, officials in top levels of government acknowledge that the state has a responsibility to help pull these women out of their situations and enable them to participate in a more productive trade. Local leaders do not understand the complexities of sex work and do not believe they have any responsibilities to assist sex workers. High level officials need to help change the attitudes of local leaders and inform them that they have an obligation to assist sex workers who come to them for help. They also need to provide local leaders with more capacity and training to help these women. If that is not possible, at least inform local leaders about organizations or government programs which they can refer sex workers to if they find they cannot assist them using their own resources. In this way, the state can employ a more uniform and effective approach in working with sex workers.
Religious Leaders
In order to reach sex workers, religious leaders should go to them and engage in a dialogue with these women. Through this study, I discovered that sex workers would like to tell their religious leaders about their dire situations but feel too fearful of what the consequences may be. They believe that their religious leaders may deal with them harshly or chase them away. Due to this fact, religious leaders must go to sex workers, rather than waiting for them to come for counseling services, if they really want to reach out to this population. Additionally, religious leaders should not limit their ministry to just preaching to sex workers. This study shows that sex workers feel very guilty about how they earn their living and already know that their work violates the laws of their respective religions. Furthermore, all of the sex workers who participated in this study stated that they do not like to sell their bodies and would love to earn their livings by doing some other work. Given that most sex workers do not like their jobs and religious leaders do not approve of them participating in sex work, religious officials need to talk with and listen to sex workers in order to discover ways in which they can assist these women.
The organizations which interact with sex workers should help this population get organized and encourage them to pressure incumbent politicians into giving them more rights. The fact that the majority of sex workers have already registered and actually do vote during elections makes the task much easier. Given that the women find it difficult to go to politicians and reveal their statuses as sex worker, organizations which work with these women should encourage them to elect representative or spokespeople. These representatives do not necessarily have to be sex workers as long as they sympathize with and are knowledgeable about the challenges these women face. If sex workers have the ability to go to the offices of politicians, make their needs known and, as a group, threaten to replace politicians if they do not vote in a way which makes the lives of sex workers easier, politicians may feel more inclined to pay attention to sex workers and implement changes in policies which affect this population. In this way, sex workers can hold political leaders accountable instead of feeling disillusioned and discouraged when politicians whom they supported fail to follow through on the promises they made during their campaigns.
Organizations can improve the effectiveness of the services they provide by sharing information with each other and having a dialogue with the sex workers they aim to assist. Sharing information between themselves would allow organizations to reduce duplicity of work and better enable them to view each other as partners, rather than competitors for scarce funds and resources. Organizations would also do well to share as much information with the women they aim to assist. During my time in the field, I noticed that the staff and directors of organizations knew about other organizations which assist sex workers, but the women themselves gave no indication that they knew about organizations other than their own. Additionally, if organizations asked sex workers for feedback regarding the services they provide, including rehabilitation, they would be able to cut the programs which do not benefit sex workers and use those resources to invest more in the programs which effectively assist sex workers. By providing information to each other and sex workers, organizations can reduce the amount of duplicity and competition and better cater to the needs of their target populations.
The State
The state should educate and sensitize local leaders to the causes of the sex trade and the obstacles sex workers face in their daily lives. There seems to be an understanding at higher levels of government that women often enter the sex trade out of necessity rather than choice. Furthermore, officials in top levels of government acknowledge that the state has a responsibility to help pull these women out of their situations and enable them to participate in a more productive trade. Local leaders do not understand the complexities of sex work and do not believe they have any responsibilities to assist sex workers. High level officials need to help change the attitudes of local leaders and inform them that they have an obligation to assist sex workers who come to them for help. They also need to provide local leaders with more capacity and training to help these women. If that is not possible, at least inform local leaders about organizations or government programs which they can refer sex workers to if they find they cannot assist them using their own resources. In this way, the state can employ a more uniform and effective approach in working with sex workers.
Religious Leaders
In order to reach sex workers, religious leaders should go to them and engage in a dialogue with these women. Through this study, I discovered that sex workers would like to tell their religious leaders about their dire situations but feel too fearful of what the consequences may be. They believe that their religious leaders may deal with them harshly or chase them away. Due to this fact, religious leaders must go to sex workers, rather than waiting for them to come for counseling services, if they really want to reach out to this population. Additionally, religious leaders should not limit their ministry to just preaching to sex workers. This study shows that sex workers feel very guilty about how they earn their living and already know that their work violates the laws of their respective religions. Furthermore, all of the sex workers who participated in this study stated that they do not like to sell their bodies and would love to earn their livings by doing some other work. Given that most sex workers do not like their jobs and religious leaders do not approve of them participating in sex work, religious officials need to talk with and listen to sex workers in order to discover ways in which they can assist these women.