The Problem

Prostitution in India
Children of Women in Prostitution
Prostitution and the Law
Student Profile

Prostitution in India

An estimated 7 million women in prostitution live in India and are frequently subjected to exploitation, slavery and abuse. As a result of deteriorating conditions in poor communities in India and neighboring countries, human trafficking thrives with nearly 200 women and children entering the trade per day, 80% of them enter against their will. In the city of Mumbai alone, there are an estimated 100,000 women in prostitution and approximately 20% of them are under the age of 18. The prevalence of both organized and informal forms of prostitution is increasing and includes child prostitution, transgender and male prostitution, human trafficking and bonded slavery. Women in prostitution are exposed to various forms of abuse and societal disapproval and have a high likelihood of contracting fatal sexually transmitted diseases. Several factors contribute to both voluntary and involuntary entry into the industry including religious mandates (i.e. Devadasi traditions), deception, dysfunctional marital and family arrangements and severe poverty. In many instances, women in prostitution are not protected by the law and as a result suffer repeated instances of rape and abuse. Further, due to the abundance of poor women in prostitution, safe sex is difficult to ensure because of an overwhelming compliance with patron requests by workers who are willing to jeopardize their health to earn a living.

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Children of Women in Prostitution

Children of women of prostitution are often victims of sexual abuse and neglect and are raised in an environment plagued with corruption and violence. In some cases, cultural tradition mandates that the eldest daughter automatically becomes a sex worker once a certain age is reached.

Further, children of women in prostitution suffer in several ways. They are subject to social exclusion, making it difficult for them to be integrated into mainstream society and admitted into government schools. Moreover, as young adults, they suffer severe psychological humiliation and as a result of diminished opportunities for sustainable work, many of them find themselves forced into the sex-trade. Both male and female children are at risk of entering the trade due to lack of resources or bonded labor contracts. Further, several of them enter related professions such as pimping and flesh-brokering.

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Prostitution and the Law

Organized prostitution is illegal in India. However, the sale of one’s own sexual act to a customer by an adult of his or her volition in private premises in not illegal and hence not punishable as per Indian law. Technically, the law does not allow anyone to take disadvantage of the helplessness and vulnerability of a person and accordingly makes brothel keeping, procuring persons for prostitution, living on the earning of another person’s prostitution and giving one’s premises for the business of prostitution illegal. However, the issue of “free will” and voluntary submission is subject to scrutiny and the occurrence of enforcement is sparse.

Law enforcement is problematic for several reasons. First, high rates of corruption perpetuate organized sex work and human rights violations. Second, India possesses two forms of institutionalized prostitution: centralized districts where the workers service clients onsite and decentralized and informal forms where the women in prostitution service clients in a dispersed and covert fashion. In the latter case, identifying the children of women in prostitution becomes speculative and difficult because the occupation of their mothers is not easily apparent.

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Student Profile

Students range from ages 16-22 and have usually completed their 2nd or 3rdrd year of high school by the time they enter the ASSET program. Students can belong to two sub-categories: (1) Children of prostitutes for which their mothers are prostitutes and (2) Rescued from trafficking in which the student him/herself has been a prostitute and has been physically rescued from trafficking.

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