As a 4000-year-old profession, the sex trade in India still resides amidst judicial obscurity. The only governing law is the Suppression Of Immoral Traffic in Women’s and Girl’s Act (1956), amended as the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (PITA) (1986).
Thus, two immediate observations that follow are:
- The act has grown stale over time. Human Rights issues that were once pertinent in the ’80s have now undergone leaping changes with new, emerging crises demanding more innovative solutions and;
- The stark legislative reluctance of the government towards female sex workers.
That said, this article aims to throw some light upon the ambiguity in the realm of education for female sex workers. Their access to education is confirmed under the general rubric of the Right to Education Act. In the opinion of the article, it is here that the conventional dilemma between equality and equity rises.
Given the discriminatory treatment meted out to the female sex workers in light of their occupational indignity, aren’t they qualified by the same virtue to be thus, identified as a group requiring special attention from the state concerning basic public services, importantly education and health? Sadly so far, there has been nothing but haunting silence.
A major distortion under PITA is that sex work is predominantly conceptualized through the lens of trafficking/exploitation, precluding an understanding of sex work as a legitimate form of labour and hence, the void in well-formulated labour rights for these women.
Consequently, feeble traces of state advocacy for the education of female sex workers are found in the imprecise scope of rehabilitative arrangements such as the National Action Plan 1998 or the Draft Policy on Rehabilitation and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children by the Government of NCT of Delhi.
Empty Policies
The National Action Plan 1998 arrange state-sponsored, protective homes for women under section 21 of PITA, where custodial care is ensured to its residents. Within this frame of custodial care, a faint mention of educational training is enclosed, albeit rested on the discretion of the NGOs running these centres.
Thus, the not-so-noble character of NGOs nowadays and their subsequent misappropriation of funds leave the sex workers in a limbo between the intermediaries and the state with no access to education, let alone quality education. The dilapidated rehabs and their greater emphasis on moral policing than the rescued sex workers’ empowerment ensure little learning. Apart from the elementary letter-reading abilities, nothing of advanced academic proficiency is imparted, thus questioning the plan’s success.
Similarly, in the Draft Policy on Rehabilitation and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children by the government of NCT of Delhi, one is likely to come across an interesting phrase under the education policies which is, ‘if the candidate is interested in pursuing her education, then she will be supported up to the class 12th as per her area of interest.’
In the opinion of this article, there’s a lack in the assertive tone one is likely to find in Article 21A, wherein it is the state’s responsibility to ensure credible education. Whereas in this scenario, much is left to the female sex workers.
Anybody with a sense of empathy and practicality will understand that the immediate drive for education is well absent within them. The psychological trauma they are coping against, and the lack of prior socialization inculcate the need for formal education. Therefore, this clause of ‘non-institutional care’ is a skillfully curated loophole, conveniently displacing intended funds into questionable oblivion.
Second, of the several suggestions, the economic support for education is the least in comparison to assistance in other expenditures. Therefore, I ask, quite keenly, why has the state intentionally checklist education on a tertiary level given its instrumental importance in primarily rehabilitating the women’s lives in the truest spirit?
Reality Check
Stinking with societal stigma, the vulnerable and neglected children of these female sex workers also suffer the trickling fate of poor education. Having to face ostracization in public schools, their drop-out rates are rising. Especially, female students are often harassed within the school premises hence defeating the purpose of a reformative attitude towards sex work in the first place.
Following India’s unique tradition of protective discrimination based on caste and race, it’s about time to extend this prerogative into the professional arena. Primarily because sex work too, at some level, is an ‘ascribed profession’ – it is either a situational compulsion or involuntary perpetration.
Since time immemorial, Indian sex workers are a marginalized community. Hence, adequately qualifying as a minority, a state-driven specialized effort is needed for their educational emancipation. The only spell to break this vicious cycle of inducting women into such a demeaning business is to have literate, well opinionated, equipped minds who stand their ground of refusal and go on to build their lives based upon intellectual and creative independence. Conversely, the government needs to shun its rusted notions of rectitude and stop capitalizing on the pandemic as an excuse for deferment in the introduction of real changes.
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.