The New Zealand’s success story May 18, 2008

On June 23, 2005 the Prostitution Reform Act made prostitution, pimping and the owning of brothels legal. This reform act was designed to safeguard the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation. The Act was conducive to public health. For example, among its health and safety requirements there is the compulsory use of condoms. Most importantly, it made an offence for sex workers to be under the age of 18.

According to the just published report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee, the number of sex workers in New Zealand has not increased. A 2007 estimate in five centres – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hawkes Bay and Nelson- found a total of 2332 sex workers.

• 93% of them cited money as the reason for getting into and staying in the sex trade.
• Fewer than 17 per cent said they are working to support drug or alcohol use
• More than 60% felt that they were more able to refuse to provide commercial sexual services to a particular client since the enactment of the law.
• A significant majority felt that there had been improvements in the incidences of violence occuring in their profession.
• More than 90% feel they have legal rights under the act.      
• 1.3 percent of sex workers were underage

The committee found that the most significant barriers to exiting are loss of income, reluctance to lose the flexible working hours and the “camraderie and sense of belonging of their profession”.

Overall the committee has found that in the five years since the Act has come into force there have been some improvements. The Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel has said that the act has had tangible positive effects.

See this blog post: “Good news on the effects of the New Zealand Prostitution law”

Netherlands: the par excellence Red Light District May 16, 2008

“It breaks down like this-

It’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to own it. And if you’re the proprietor of a hash bar, it’s legal to sell it. Its legal to carry it, but that doesn’t really matter because – get a load of this – if you get stopped by the cops in Amsterdam, it’s illegal for them to search you”.  Pulp Fiction

In the Netherlands sex workers have access to the social security system, may join unions, have to pay income tax and are treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Health and social services are readily available, but people who work in the sex industry are not required to register or undergo mandatory health checks. Sex workers have to be at least 18 years old. 

This system has worked well so far, but things are about to change. The widespread phenomenon of Human trafficking has led to a revision of the laws in many countries. Last week the Dutch government announced plans to criminalise the visiting of prostitutes that are not officially licensed. Furthermore, authorities will compel prostitutes to be registered in a national database. Previously, only brothels had tobe registered to obtain a license. 

Prostitution in the UK – how does it work? May 16, 2008

So what is the state of this profession in Britain? Briefly we could say prostitution in itself is legal. That is if we stick to the definition of “exchanging participation in sexual activities for money or other goods”. On the other hand, many other activities that are linked to the sex trade are outlawed.

SW5 – an organisation that supports male and transgender sex workers – describes this system as a version of the “good news, bad news joke”.  To name a few: pimping, soliciting and kerb crawling are illegal. 

For many years the UK government has announced an overhaul of the legislation surrounding the sex trade. These changes are currently under review, so the Sexual Offences Act introduced in 2003 and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill are the legal points of reference for this profession. 

Prison sentences for soliciting were abolished in 1983. According to the Socialist Worker Online around 3,500 women each year are cautioned or convicted for soliciting (however the source of this data is not identified in this article). Anti-social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) are frequently used against sex workers. A 2002 review by the Home Office found that 5% of all Asbos dealt with prostitution (Source: All Women Count). Many campaigners have protested that these measures have been used as a “quick fix” against undesirable behaviour in the streets, without looking at the core causes.

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, is reportedly seeking to outlaw prostitution. Many are concerned that this move would force prostitution underground and make women more vulnerable to violence. 

Currently, it is estimated that 80,000 individuals are involved in prostitution in the UK (source: CARE document on Prostitution and Human Trafficking).

The current situation poses some important questions. 

• If prostitution is legal, should the government collect taxes from sex workers?
• If prostitution is legal, what health and safety benefits should sex workers enjoy?
• If prostitution is criminalised, what penalties would guarantee a fair functioning of the justice system (avoiding gender and category discrimination), as well as deter and prevent  the existence of the oldest known profession?

Jack the ripper’s back – Providing a Context May 10, 2008

The Million Woman rise march was meant to be an occasion for women’s groups to come together and share their problem in an atmosphere of complete solidarity and understanding. I shouldn’t have been surprised that in the end, politics came in the way.

As members of the ECP voiced their outrage at Teresa McKay being hushed, questions were raised about the Coalition’s good faith.

Why was Teresa McKay stopped from speaking? Was it really a matter of organisation, or was it pure bigotry?  The ECP made sure her speech was published online for everyone interested to see.

The draft speech can be found in the All women count website (http://www.allwomencount.net/EWC%20Sex%20Workers/Teresa’sbannedspeech.htm)

A year and a half ago, 5 women were brutally killed in the area surrounding Ipswich in Suffolk, England by Steve Wright, a regular prostitute haunter.  The incident was a grotesque reminiscent of the Yorskhire murders, which also affected prostitutes. These murders received a lot of media attention and raised some issues in regards to the UK law on prostitution and the working conditions of sex workers.

Teresa MCKay wished to revisit these issues and question the government’s response through the reformed Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

·      Health and Safety

·      Representation

·      Poverty and Inequality

·      Employment rights

Two months ago the Coalition didn’t have a policy on it. I spoke to Sabrina Qureshi from the MWR coalition to find out if things had changed, following the events.  They are yet to form any policies, but consultations will start by the end of this month.  A part from the MWR coalition and the various organisations, these problems are for everyone to consider. Prostitution, as any social is, affects everyone in society and the law should not be solely put together by the parliamentary lobbies. 

 

Women’s movement in the UK still divided March 9, 2008

 

An incident of violent dissidence erupted yesterday at the Million Woman Rise (MWR) rally in Trafalgar Square at 4 in the afternoon, as one woman was injured and taken to the ambulance. The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) manifested their disapproval at being “silenced” by the MWR coalition from speaking on the issue of legalising prostitution. Some of their members unplugged the amplifiers so that the main speaker’s voice could not be heard. The episode quickly escalated as two women – belonging to the two opposing groups- physically attacked each other.

One witness said: “I don’t know their names. All I saw is someone from our coalition being grabbed by the throat”.

Teresa McKay, from the Ipswich Trade Council, explained that she was invited to speak on the issue in quality of her position as Regional Organiser of Women, Race and Equality in Unite the Union, “the biggest union in the country”. She said: “I was invited to speak on the issue of the five prostitutes killed in Ipswich. They said they got my speech too late, but then they let the cat out of the bag and said the coalition didn’t have a position [on prostitution], so they couldn’t let me speak”.

Teresa added: “I was going to get my union to make a donation to this campaign, but there’s no way I’m going to do that now, because they are just censoring us”.

Gemma Novis, one of the organisers of the rally, claimed Teresa McKay wasn’t censored. “There was a lot of confusion. As a coalition we put up a general call out for speakers, it was about providing a space for them. Lots of women got in touch with us, and then we had a discussion to see if the two sides of the debate were represented. Our coalition doesn’t have a position on the issue [of prostitution], we’re just united in ending violence against women”.

Three women who witnessed the event explained that it was a political issue. One of them, a member of the coalition and of Unite, said: “The English collective of prostitutes are quite a hard-core group. We need to have balanced views on the stage. Teresa MacKay was using her position in the Ipswich Trade Council to pursue her agenda”.

The members of the ECP, sporting a banner with “Sex workers rights are women’s rights” written on it, left the rally after the unsuccessful boycott attempt. Their group campaigns for the decriminalisation of their profession in the name of better welfare and safety, a health plan, a pension plan and a chance to pay the taxes in accordance with their professional effort.

100 years after the 15,000 female garment workers went on strike in New York City to fight for better working conditions, and 40 years after the heyday of the feminist campaign, the women’s movement seems to be far from united.

This comes as legislation on abortion and domestic violence are under scrutiny in the British Parliament. 

Happy Women’s day! March 8, 2008

This post is dedicated to the distinguished Professor Lawrence Summers, a truly dashing personality.  A noted economist, former Secretary of the Treasury and president of Harvard University.  I’ll remember him particularly for his statements regarding the genetic  differences in mathematical ability between men and women.

He basically seems to think women and numbers don’t click. Taking his wise words into account I have to express my admiration for him, especially because it so happens that this man and I share a love for numbers. So much so that I once wrote a poem about numbers.

It goes like this:

“The current world population counts about 6.6 billion people.

Amongst them, 51.3% are men, and 48.3% are women.

There are around 3.19 billion women in the world.

Women produce up to 80% of food in developing countries, but are more likely to be hungry than men.

70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children.

700,000,000 women are without adequate food, water, sanitation, health care or education (compared with 400,000,000 men)

750,000,000 women live on less than a dollar a day.

1% of the world’s titled land in the world is owned by women.

67% of all illiterate adults are women.

85m girls worldwide are unable to attend school, compared with 45m boys. In Chad, just 4% of girls go to school.

Up to 90% of workers in global supply chains are women.

62% of unpaid family workers are women.

21% of the world’s managers are women.

Fewer than one in six parliamentarians are women. While women’s representation in Rwanda is 49%, ten countries have no women in parliament.

In Africa, women now account for 75% of all young people living with HIV and AIDS.

In Ethiopia, seven out of ten women who have ever had a partner have suffered either physical or sexual violence at home.

99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with women continuing to die of pregnancy-related causes at the rate of one a minute.

Data on key aspects of women’s empowerment, including school attendance, violence against women and wages is only available in around a quarter of countries.”

Have a look at my sources.