Better pay drives women to prostitution

[La Lioness Priyanka]

Anahita Mukherji, May 1, 2011, 04.40am IST

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-01/mumbai/29492868_1_prostitution-labour-market-work-force

"MUMBAI: Very rarely does a survey of prostitution take into account the economics of sex work, or view it in the context of the labour market. While a detailed study of the economics of commercial sex work in the US found its way into the 2009 bestseller Superfreakonomics, two economists from Pune University have studied the same angle in perhaps the first pan-India study of prostitution.

The preliminary findings of the study, conducted by Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar of the department of economics, Pune University, under the aegis of the Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalization, Sangli, were released in Mumbai on Saturday.

The researchers surveyed 3,000 female sex workers and 1,355 male and transgender workers from 14 states and one Union Territory in India. The findings were released at the Gender Resource Centre run by Akshara, an organization working in the field of women's studies.

"While most surveys on prostitution treat sex workers as objects, or focus on issues such as HIV, very rarely is their voice heard. We have attempted to conduct an objective study of prostitution as part of the unorganized labour market in India,'' said Sahni. "