Ashrafi Ferdousy Bithi
Funeral is an occasion when friends and foes get together. But it did not happen so when Sonia died because she was a sex worker. Even her fellowmen in Faridpur had to wait for three days to secure permission from the local municipality office for her burial.
Sonia, 25, a commercial sex worker, hanged herself having failed to endure torture by her so-called husband, Babu, a drug addict, for money.
When the funeral permission came after three days of hectic persuasion, there was no one, except a few of her fellow-brothel women, to bury Sonia.
Although prostitution is an age-old profession, women in this male-dominated society are hated when they end up as sex workers. So was the case when Sonia slipped into prostitution. Even her family members did not come to see her when she died.
Sex workers in Bangladesh are the victims of circumstances. Their lives are plagued with problems and problems. Their agony knows no bounds.
"We cannot register the birth of our children because it requires the father's name. Even school authorities refuse to admit our kids," regrets Shahnaz, a sex worker of Jamalpur.
She says: I would like to send my kid to school with my own identity. I want him to be raised with all human and social values. I think it's my right."
Sathi, another sex worker of a brothel in Jamalpur, says they are forced to pay a major portion of their earned money to the brothel owner. "We become the target of physical assault when we don't pay them the money," says Sathi.
According to CARE Bangladesh, there are around 50,000 sex workers in the country. Of them, only one-third live in brothels and others are floating. The sufferings of floating sex workers are much more than those living in whorehouses. Floating sex workers have no security of life, livelihood and education of their children.
"We don't want sympathy - we just want to see that our rights are ensured. This society always turns a blind eye when it comes to our rights. We're called prostitutes, but those visit us are not called prostitutes," says Shahnaj, president of Durjoy Nari Sanghia, a sex workers' organisation.
According to article 4(l) of the Bengal Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933, no one can turn his or her own house into a brothel or rent it out for this purpose. And it will be a punishable offence to force any under-18 girl into prostitution.
However, article 74 of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976 says any woman above 18 can take up prostitution by choice through an affidavit before any notary public or magistrate court. The affidavit does not guarantee any condition or right to the sex workers. It only describes that any adult woman can choose prostitution as her profession. Affidavit is not a licence but a woman can continue the profession with it. So, it is clear that prostitution is not forbidden in the country from the legal point of view.
"Sexual work can't be a profession. As we could not provide alternative works to sex workers so it is not possible to refrain them from that hated work. There is also a gap between the country's constitution and conventional laws about sexual work and those involved with it," says advocate Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh Jatiya Mahila Ainjibi Samity.
Advocate Salina Ali further says an illegal network controls the sex business due to obscurity in the laws and police are the powerhouse of the gang.
"I'm in this line for over seven years. I earn money by selling my body and enduring various harassments and tortures. But other people are taking away my money. So-called husbands, local hooligans and police take away half of the money I earn," says Bobby, 30, a floating sex worker of the capital.
Bobby continues: No one provides us with a meal. Instead, they try to beat up us when they get a chance. Police pick up us whenever they want to, although police themselves work with criminals," says another floating sex worker, Tagor.
"Sex workers are the marginalised group in this society. They cannot seek justice for lack of information," says Philip Gayne, Director of Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), an NGO.
According to Director of Utsay Bangladesh Mahbuba Mahmud Lina, every work of sex workers is treated as a crime as they have no social standing and this is unfair.
Food, clothing, shelter, treatment and education are the fundamental and constitutionally recognised rights of every citizen, and sex workers are no exception.
"There is no allocation for rehabilitation of sex workers in the national budget. And the civil society hardly pursues their cause although sex workers have right to live life like other people," says sex worker Shahnaz.
"We have been on a movement for a long time to realise our demands but our appeals fall on deaf ears," she laments.
— NewsNetwork
Sex workers deserve a better deal in society
FE Team | Published: June 30, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like