by Ed Shepherd
The issue of prostitution is generally swept under the carpet. Yet this is a growing business already worth billions of dollars and exists to some degree in all nations.
It is a complex and contentious subject, involving increasing numbers of children and men. However, in order to promote the least complicated discussion, this ALU looks only at the major providers of the service - women. But we do not claim to cover comprehensively the issue of women in prostitution.
Because prostitution is widespread, involving a huge economy, it is difficult not to refer to it as a business or industry when discussing it. If we accept it as a business or industry, it follows that women in prostitution operating willingly are workers.
The voices of sex workers are becoming louder as they increase in numbers and confidence. These women demand that 'the oldest profession' is in fact a dignified profession, and should be considered as work.
The UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) considers that the policy of many Asian governments which encourage the export of female labour has increased overseas prostitution. Unintentional or not, governments such as the Philippines offer courses for women to enter the entertainment industry in developed countries. Women migrating abroad for regular work are frequently tricked and forced into prostitution by recruitment agencies.
It appears that when unemployment is high, and demand for labour is low, people, especially women, have the option to sell their bodies, though perhaps hiring their bodies out for short periods of time is a more accurate description. However the ILO notes that "if absolute poverty was the sole root cause … for prostitution, then the sex sector should have declined" in four Asian countries with substantial growth in gross domestic product, but the reverse happened.
The argument of whether prostitution is work or not is increasingly debated. The women's movement is completely divided over the issue. Some groups argue that sex work is just a division of the leisure industry, and that because there are millions of women involved, it is necessary to regulate and formalise the industry to protect those working in it.
On the other hand some women's groups oppose the whole idea of prostitution, seeing the issue as one which simply degrades women and prolongs the concept that women are primarily sex objects. The existence of sex workers is blocking the emancipation of women. Quite how they regard the status of individual sex workers is not clear.
Few governments regard women in prostitution as workers. Yet apart from the uniqueness of the services, they behave as other workers and receive money in remuneration. But women in prostitution have no legal rights or protection under the law.
Furthermore, even a casual look at the issues involving women in prostitution shows that they are in a vulnerable position, suffering frequent rape, beatings and robbery at the hands of pimps and clients, and harassment including violence from the police.
For these reasons, irrespective of the moral argument, we believe that women in prostitution should be regarded as workers with all the national and international rights and protection afforded by laws and conventions.
At a meeting in Zhuhai in January, NGOs involved directly with sex workers, the Asia Monitor Resource Centre, and sex workers from various Asian countries met to try to develop the debate and to raise awareness among labour groups. This ALU conveys some of the NGO reports and sex workers' statements to advocate prostitution as a labour issue.
NGOs involved with sex work were invited from Cambodia, China, Japan, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea. Each group brought along sex workers to base the conference in the reality of the work. The sex workers' accounts of their work follow the relevant NGO country report.