7. Factors Driving and Perpetuating Commercial Sex Work
This section will focus only on the "supply" side of commercial sex work, i.e. the economic factors leading women to engage in sex work. In doing so, it is not intended to down-play the importance of men's role in creating the demand for commercial sex (and especially the power imbalances that lead to violence against CSWs and demands for unprotected sex). While these issues must be addressed, they are largely beyond the scope of this piece of work.
Poverty and food insecurity are clearly and unsurprisingly the major driving forces behind the "supply" side of commercial sex work. All of the women spoken to emphasized a lack of alternative livelihood options as the main reason for getting involved in commercial sex work and subsequently for not getting out of it. The women interviewed were all also single women. Although widows in Tonga society can inherit land from their husbands, it is likely that these women lacked the material and labour inputs to make full use of whatever land they had. (The ages of their children were such that they could have contributed little labour at the time that the husband died.)
Another constraint emphasized by the women is a lack of access to credit. For example, the women felt that a poultry project could be viable, but they do not have the money to purchase the broilers and the fencing and other materials for a suitable poultry run.
What is obvious from this interview is that commercial sex work is by no means an easy or attractive option. If they engage in commercial sex work, the women involved will still be very poor while also facing physical abuse, the risk of infection from HIV and other STDs and social stigma. Certain demographic groups are most at risk of becoming involved in this type of work at any time (especially single mothers). But in a situation of severe drought and increasing food insecurity as is currently being faced in Binga, more women and girls may opt for this strategy even though the returns will be even smaller. In talking of income-earning activities that they would like to undertake, the women spoke of them as substituting for the income from sex work, not as supplements. Hence, even if they would still be poor, they would prefer to be earning their little income by other means than sex.
There are two additional factors that subsequently prevent women from returning to their home areas once they get involved in sex work. The first is the stigma and shame that is attached to sex work, and the second is that family members are said to lack sympathy for CSWs, especially if they have not been remitting significant amounts of money. The latter is particularly tragic in the context of HIV/AIDS. The women spoke of the 4 members of their group who had passed away in the last few years. When those women became chronically ill they lost their income, and their families refused to support them and pay for their care, telling them that their boyfriends should look after them.
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