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Sex workers too organise themselves in Kerala

D Jose in Trivandrum

In Kerala, where there is, if anything, a surfeit of trade unions, sex workers were perhaps the only people who hadn't organised themselves. Now it has, much to the chagrin of some women's organisations.

Two events catalysed this development: one, the suicide of a 35-year-old woman in broad daylight in the Trivandrum central bus stand in 1996; and two, and more important, the attempt the some people in authority to lure a 15-year-old into prostitution.

The minor, who tried to lead a normal life, becoming a florist after she was abandoned by her policeman lover, was implicated in several false cases by the police and made to stop the business.

The sex workers of Trivandrum pooled their money and cremated the body of the first lady, who had committed suicide due to police harassment. They kept off the streets for two days to mourn her death. The body of another sex worker was also found dead on the city pavement later though her body remained unclaimed. Such and similar incidents were narrated by about 100 people who got together to form the union.

The Integrated Research in Mental Health, which has been working on the health aspects of sex workers, gave the necessary impetus by convening the two-day meeting on February 21 and 22. It also helped form a 10-member committee to fight against human rights violations. The activists have also formed a support group to help sex workers fight their cases. Units of the committee and the support group are to be set up at all district headquarters, said Jayasree Mythreyan, an activist of the organisation.

Mythreyan told Rediff On The NeT that their efforts were to protect the human rights of sex workers. She said the union would soon submit a memorandum to Chief Minister E K Nayanar, urging him to construct shelter homes for sex workers and to rehabilitate them and their children who are dragged into the business in the absence of proper educational facilities.

She said the union also plans to agitate before the state legislative assembly if their demands are not met. Mythreyan said in Kerala, where there are no red-light areas, sex workers were being exploited, tortured and harassed by society and the police.

According to Mythreyan, the organisation will collect data involving sex workers. At present, there is no reliable source of information regarding them. She hoped that more sex workers would come forward and join the union. Mythreyan said the biggest problems the sex workers faced involved facilities like health, education and legal protection.

According to her, sex workers are not treated properly even in government hospitals. The union hopes to set up a "drop-in" centre to provide cloakroom and mess facilities for them during the day. Ensuring adequate medical help and legal aid at affordable rates is their other concerns of the union, said Mythreyan, who was also in the forefront of those mobilising public opinion against the police for making a false case against Indian Space Research Organisation scientists.

Sex workers are usually treated as second-grade citizens and denied basic human rights, said Rosy Mary, a writer associated with the union, "The association would empower the sex workers to deal with such issues through collective action," she said.

The sex workers face attack from both the police and the public. Sex workers have to often contend with illegal detention, custodial torture and false criminal cases against them, Rose Mary said. There have often been cases of sex workers being found dead without anybody to take up their case. In most cases such bodies were also never identified.

The association finally hopes to wean away sex workers from prostitution by addressing their specific problems. Rose Mary said rehabilitation of sex workers had not worked with many cases due to the social ostracism the women faced.

The organisers face protests from the more conservative sections of Kerala society, with some claiming it would actually promote prostitution. Giving respectability to the profession would see the numbers of sex workers swell, they say.

Several women organisations too have opposed the move to organise sex workers. Women's Commission chairperson Sugathakumari asserted it would reassure women who were sitting on the fence to join the profession due to pressure from men. K Ajitha, another woman activist who has been fighting against sex rackets involving influential people has also criticised the move.

However, the organisers are not deterred, claiming they were trying to make life more bearable for sex workers. They said they were not considering whether the profession had the right to exist or not.

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