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“Whatever I Have, I Have Made by Coming into this Profession”: The Intersection of Resources, Agency, and Achievements in Pathways to Sex Work in Kolkata, India

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Abstract

This article investigated the complex interplay of choice, socioeconomic structural factors, and empowerment influencing engagement in sex work. The analysis was focused on pathways into and reasons for staying in sex work from in-depth qualitative interviews with participants (n = 37) recruited from the Durbar community-led structural intervention in Kolkata, India. Kabeer’s theory of empowerment focused on resources, agency, and achievements was utilized to interpret the results. Results identified that contexts of disempowerment constraining resources and agency set the stage for initiating sex work, typically due to familial poverty, loss of a father or husband as a breadwinner, and lack of economic opportunities for women in India. Labor force participation in informal sectors was common, specifically in domestic, construction, and manufacturing work, but was typically insufficient to provide for families and also often contingent on sexual favors. The availability of an urban market for sex work served as a catalyst or resource, in conjunction with Durbar’s programmatic resources, for women to find and exercise agency and achieve financial and personal autonomy not possible in other work or as dependents on male partners. Resources lost in becoming a sex worker due to stigma, discrimination, and rejection by family and communities were compensated for by achievements in gaining financial and social resources, personal autonomy and independence, and the ability to support children and extended family. Durbar’s programs and activities (e.g., savings and lending cooperative, community mobilization, advocacy) function as empowering resources that are tightly linked to sex workers’ agency, achievements, and sex work pathways.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Pilot Grant from the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS, NIMH Grant MH58107) and a fellowship from the American Institute of Indian studies to the first author. The second author was supported by an Institutional Training Grant at the California Center for Population Research through Award Number 5T32HD007545 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support was provided by NIH Grants 5P30AI028697, UL1TR000124, and R21AI094666. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders. We also acknowledge the University of California Global Health Institute’s Center of Expertise in Women’s Health and Empowerment for supporting the intellectual environment related to this work. We are also grateful to the sex workers and family members who participated in this study and shared their stories for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for HIV Identification, Prevention & Treatment Services (CHIPTS), Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Dallas Swendeman

  2. Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Anne E. Fehrenbacher & Mallory Collins

  3. School of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Samira Ali & Toorjo Ghose

  4. Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, and Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Sheba George

  5. Center for Culture and Health, Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Deborah Mindry

  6. Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Bharati Dey

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  1. Dallas Swendeman
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  2. Anne E. Fehrenbacher
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  3. Samira Ali
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  4. Sheba George
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  7. Toorjo Ghose
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Correspondence to Dallas Swendeman.

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Swendeman, D., Fehrenbacher, A.E., Ali, S. et al. “Whatever I Have, I Have Made by Coming into this Profession”: The Intersection of Resources, Agency, and Achievements in Pathways to Sex Work in Kolkata, India. Arch Sex Behav 44, 1011–1023 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0404-1

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