Female sex workers face 55 per cent vulnerability, with lack of insurance, followed by savings or investments in gold, land or property, and alternative income sources putting their lives under stress and continuous challenges.
Not having insurance, in particular, was a key factor in defining the financial vulnerability of the sex workers, according to a large study covering the southern states and Maharashtra done by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad, and Population Council, an international not-for-profit organisation which does research in public health and biomedicine.
Given the increasing emphasis on ensuring access to insurance for all individuals by the Government of India, this finding provides a basis for the policy-makers to leverage and provide this vulnerable group with financial security. The study was published in PLoS ONE.
The study found that lack of insurance contributed the most (32 per cent) to financial vulnerabilities. Lack of savings or investment in gold, land or property contributed (26 per cent), lack of alternative income other than sex work (20 per cent) and not having saving accounts in a bank or post office (16 per cent). Loan from an informal source contributed only 6 per cent to the overall vulnerabilities.
Lack of awareness of their legal rights is another area which needs to be addressed, which will enable them to become more resilient to exploitation, researcher Ruchir Bhattacharya of the Centre for Gender Studies & Development, NIRDPR said. The study is titled ‘Measuring vulnerability among female sex workers in India using a multidimensional framework’.
Vulnerabilities of female sex workers should not be seen from the context of sex work alone. Rather, their structural, social and financial vulnerabilities need to be addressed to provide them with a safe and enabling environment. The southern states were chosen as they are known for high HIV prevalence and have a large number of female sex workers.
According to the study, HIV prevalence in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Karnataka was around 6 per cent. In Maharastra, it was 7 per cent and Tamil Nadu (1 per cent). Living conditions of FSWs were one of the poorest with a large proportion of them being exposed to harsh socio-environmental stress such as lack of proper healthcare and security. Nearly half of FSWs in Maharashtra, two-thirds in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one-fifth in Karnataka and two-fifth in Tamil Nadu depended solely on earnings from sex work to make a living, the study cited.
In addition, the findings suggested that 23 per cent of the vulnerabilities among FSWs were due to their personal attributes, with their degree of dependency and being mobile/migrant for sex work contributing to 42 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively. Street-based solicitation contributed to only 4 per cent of the overall vulnerability.
The highest vulnerability was among sex workers surveyed in Maharashtra. The study also found that vulnerable FSWs were more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours. The research is important for health policy enthusiasts, as higher vulnerability means a greater chance to engage in behaviours that put them at risk of sexually transmitted infections.
Based on the findings, the study suggested that intervention programmes need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to address multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and should be specifically designed to address financial vulnerabilities. This can be achieved by facilitating access to formal financial services, helping them to increase saving habits and make investments in movable and immovable assets.
Since India has been dealing with an HIV epidemic and FSWs continue to be one of the core sources of transmission, the existing interventions aimed at HIV-prevention among this group must continue uninhibited. Further strengthening of these efforts will enable and empower female sex workers to adopt safe and free behaviour without any compulsion or fear.