What keeps commercial sex workers in such a highly stigmatised and dangerous activity, some for 20 or even 30 years?
Not only is sex work criminalised in Kenya but it also exposes women to a higher risk of HIV infection and violence.
A group of researchers working with female sex workers since 2019 say the majority attribute it to one thing— motherhood and the need to support their child or children.
“Motherhood was mentioned by most as the reason they have remained resilient,” the researchers report in a new study said.
The study was conducted by Partners for Health and Development in Africa, a local non-profit working in health and development.
Nairobi has about 40,000 sex workers, according to various estimates by the Ministry of Health and NGOs working with such groups.
At the time of the study, now published in the BMC Public Health Journal, all the women interviewed sold sex within Nairobi and were aged 18 to 45 with a mean age of 32 years.
Most had some years of schooling but only two had proceeded to college and university.
Before entry into sex work, 39 out of 40 women had at least one child.
Providing for the children was described as the main reason the women joined sex work and were also the main reason most continued in the trade.
“I sell sex and pay school fees for my children. I pray to God He helps them to pass the level that I reached,” one sex worker said.
The next unusual reason was social capital.
“Most of the sex workers reported benefiting from a support system with other sex workers, their local community, that they had devised to encourage and help each other out,” the study says.
It is titled, ‘Beaten but not down! Exploring resilience among female sex workers (FSWs) in Nairobi.’IFRAMELY
Many sex workers said they could not leave because the stigma continues and are forced to avoid their former colleagues to gain acceptance in the new society.
The support system among sex workers includes but is not limited to financial and emotional support, sharing of health education information and linkage to health care services.
“The friendships and grouping amongst their peers offered many women comfort and a means of thriving despite the many challenges. This social capital as a resource for resilience was cherished among sex workers,” the study authors said.
Another reason for resilience was the safety net provided by regular partners/clients.
Even though these are paying partners, sex workers perceived these men as friends who provided a form of emotional support as they could offer a shoulder to lean on even when they are not buying sex.
The qualitative data was collected in October 2019 from 40 female sex workers who were randomly sampled from 1,003 women enrolled in the Maisha Fiti study.
It is a three-year longitudinal mixed-methods study exploring the relationships among HIV risk and violence and mental health.
Most of the participants said they had hopes for a better future where they were no longer sex workers.
“Many participants mentioned vague plans of starting a business when they have saved up sufficient capital; others hoped God would intervene and give them a man enabling them to leave sex work,” the authors said.
Indeed, only one of the 40 women felt that sex work met her needs and she had no plans to leave.
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