Plea to help prostitutes get proper jobs
Prostitutes should have criminal convictions deleted after a few years to allow them get proper jobs, it was claimed today.
The Ruhama group, which promotes the rights of sex workers, said women are unable to access training or employment because of their criminal records.
A report entitled the "Next Step Initiative" by Ruhama also called today for a Government working group to examine law reform in the area.
Ruhama director Kathleen Fahy said: “Over the years we have found that working with women involved in prostitution is an extremely slow process.
“Time and again we have seen at first hand the struggle which many women undergo as they attempt to take ’their next step’.
“It is a slow and halting process with many setbacks.”
The Report called for the Government to examine the possibility of “expunging women’s criminal records to facilitate their move into alternative employment“.
It also recommended a high-level ministerial working group on prostitution be established to look at current laws on prostitution.
It cited Swedish laws which characterise prostitution as violence against women and an abuse of human rights and criminalises the buyers of sexual services while decriminalising the women as victims.
Ruhama sought the research to identify the range of barriers that affects women in prostitution and prevent them taking the next step in their development journeys. The report also recommended that preventative work with young people should be supported with specific focus on identifying at-risk groups.
“We felt a need to examine more closely the personal and other challenges faced by the women in order to get a clearer understanding of their needs and how best to respond to them,” said Ms Fahy.
The Justice Department funded the research in the report over the past three years.
The report also recommends that research be conducted on the extent of the less visible forms of sexual exploitation and the link between the wider sex industry like lap-dancing and prostitution.
The research also identified a number of factors affecting prostitution, which impact on the women.
Among them were societal attitudes, the absence of choice, self-worth and identity issues, and also the survival and coping mechanisms employed by the women which often impact negatively on other aspects of their lives.
