The imposition of lockdown has left thousands of sex workers in cities in dire straits. The loss of income has plunged one of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups into the depths of anxiety and deprivation.
The Government doesn’t want to accept that there’s prostitution in the country. The Rs 20-lakh crore package announced by the Centre has nothing for the benefit of sex workers. A Global Network of Sex Work Projects and UNAIDS report says, "Whenever and wherever possible, sex workers are responsibly self-isolating in response to the Governments' calls. However, when they are excluded from Covid-19 social protection responses, they are faced with putting their safety, health and lives at increased risk just to survive..."
The sex workers’ financial situation is made worse because they often have no savings. Now, with no cash coming in, they fear not being able to pay rent and may end up without a place to live in. Most of them have no documents at all to avail benefits under the Governments’ welfare schemes.
The sex workers’ core clientele has traditionally been migrant workers and men who are away from their families. Given that this group is also grappling with the horrific economic effect of the lockdown, sex workers are staring at months without business.
The usually busy street of Malisahi in Bhubaneswar is now mostly empty with only a few women waiting outside their homes. The red light area of the State capital has nearly 250 sex workers. A few have left for their villages; around 150 have nowhere to go. Business has been zero since the lockdown. Most of them have small children and are victims of human trafficking. The few we met all came from remote districts, some from West Bengal and quite a few were Bangladeshis. Many of them have families to support in their villages, childcare has become a huge problem as day and night care shelters have shut down and children spend their entire day in the cramped brothels.
I had come to know about their sad plight from the report of a young journalist, Rana Laxmidhar. The brothel keeper, an old matron, said, “My priority is to keep them safe. We make do with whatever food we get. Many of the girls and children go hungry. There is no help from the Government; a few NGOs lend support. Even after the lockdown is over, there will be no business. The clients will worry about whom the sex workers have come in contact with. There is no future for us.” She also complained that even basic sanitisation of the place was not done by the authorities.
"Even during the lockdown, a few of them desperately search for customers to make ends meet. We have shut down the entire area,” a local police official said on the condition of anonymity. He even agreed that their condition is pitiable.
Social worker and women’s rights activist Namrata Chadha says, “It is sad that nobody is talking about them. They work, they are human beings too. But in society, neither do they have a name nor is there any concern about them among the people.” Bharati Girdhar from the Punjabi Arya Sanatan Biradari has arranged fifty ration packs for distribution among the sex workers. She has assured that more assistance will be given.
When will sex workers be seen as human beings whose basic needs deserve to be met? This is an ideal time for the Government to intervene and tackle trafficking and forced prostitution. The Government should think of an exit strategy that includes transitional housing, bank loans and alternate employment. The Government must announce an economic package for sex workers so that they can survive through the crisis. Covid-19 presents a natural opportunity to help sex workers exit their trade and find out alternative livelihoods. The Government should take on board NGOs, civil society organisations and sex workers and make effective policies for rehabilitation of this miserable lot.
If the red light areas reopen, the economic cost of hospitalisations and ICU admissions for just sex workers will be very high. The cost of reintegrating sex workers is much less than the economic cost of reopening red light areas. The red light areas should be closed indefinitely to protect people from Covid-19.