Bread Poverty at the Forefront of Reasons for Women’s Sex Work
Pain is pain no matter how you read it. The story of newborns who are sold after birth to break the hearts of passersby and provide money to those who carry the newborn.
FCNN reports:
« To solve the problem of buying and selling children, we must think about the situation of injured women»
In order to prevent the purchase and sale of children, the law on the protection of children and adolescents consisting of 9 articles was approved in the open session of Monday, the 25th of Esfand 1381 of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and on 11/10/81 it was approved by the Guardian Council.
Based on Article 3 of this law; any purchase, sale, exploitation and employment of children for the purpose of committing illegal acts such as trafficking is prohibited, and the perpetrator shall, in addition to compensation for damages, be sentenced to 6 months to one year imprisonment or a fine of 10 million to 20 million rials.
Examination of this law shows that there is no deterrent factor for buying and selling children and severe punishments do not await negligent parents, so that according to the law, the maximum punishment for buying and selling children is one year imprisonment or a fine of 20 million rials.
The causes of this crime can be attributed to financial problems and poverty of parents, and matters such as unemployment, addiction, illiteracy, lack of social support, etc. contribute to and increase the likelihood of this crime.
According to legal experts, unfortunately the law also cannot be enforced as it should be against those who commit such acts because fathers must, according to the laws, take care of their children and pay their material expenses in the form of child support.
Therefore, fathers and mothers who sell their children have not only failed to fulfill their legal duty but also try to earn income by exploiting them.
Unfortunately, due to legal loopholes, many children are sold every year, and without identification documents and so forth, no bright future awaits them, and this problem makes legal proceedings difficult.
A UNICEF report conducted among 2240 secondary school adolescents in Iran shows that 60 percent of children have been abused, 61 percent of them experienced physical abuse, 33 percent psychological abuse and 6.6 percent sexual abuse. In 22 percent of cases the abuser was a family member, 31 percent a close relative and 16 percent a family acquaintance. Official statistics show that approximately 1.3 percent of children between 6-14 years of age work and do not go to school. This figure is 0.5 percent in urban areas and 2.4 percent in rural areas.» (Shargh Newspaper, Sunday, 17 Mehr 1384 – October 9, 2005, Third Year – Issue 596) Despite the reality stated above, it can be written that: In Iran there are no official statistics to count the exact situation of these children.
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9 percent of women engaged in sex work for the first time under the coercion of their husband
Based on a series of research conducted in a part of Tehran:
76 percent of women engaged in sex work had no history of running away from home. 23 percent had a history of drug use before engaging in sex work. 12 percent had a history of arrest and imprisonment. 7 percent stated that they started sex work for the first time to obtain drugs. 9 percent started their first experience of sex work under the coercion of their husband and 18 percent under the coercion of parents, mostly the father. 70 percent of women engaged in sex work had been doing this for less than 5 years.
Reasons for Sex Work
The most important factors affecting sex work: The responsibility of providing for the expenses of several people was the most important reason for women’s inclination toward this work, and in subsequent categories were factors such as a history of arrest and crime of the father, marital status and presence among friends engaged in sex work. 22 percent of women were employed and 80 percent stated that they had no job before engaging in sex work, 43 percent were unemployed and 15 percent were housewives.
Women’s Employment Status Before Sex Work
This research also showed that: 22 percent of women who were employed before engaging in sex work were employed in various sectors as follows: 8 percent were office employees, 7 percent secretarial workers, 4 percent sales workers, 7 percent beauticians, 5 percent workers and 2 percent engaged in illegal work which was mostly drug trafficking. Women who were previously employed had jobs that did not provide sufficient income to support their lives. Thus corruption in Iranian institutions is prevalent in many dimensions which perhaps sometimes due to excessive pretense and also media limitations, has never been revealed.
Age Status of Women Engaged in Sex Work
Most of them started this work at the age of 20, and after 5 years of activity in this work, they were at the age of 25, and their first permanent marriage was between 15 to 18 years of age. 11 percent were permanently married, 42 percent single, 39 percent divorced and 4 percent widowed. In terms of education, 6 percent were illiterate and 14 percent had above diploma qualifications, which is a serious warning.
Clients of Women Engaged in Sex Work
This research regarding the clients of women engaged in sex work indicates that: Most of these women said that their clients are between 30 to 50 years of age and half of them are married, 25 percent of clients are single, mostly have higher education and 80 percent are employed and belong to high-income groups. Regarding the methods of attracting clients by women engaged in sex work, it is as follows: Their initial method of attracting clients was from street sides but after some time of activity 42 percent attracted clients through social relationships, 22 percent from street sides and 25 percent through telephone contact with their clients. Many of these women’s clients would take them to their homes when their wives were not home.
The number of clients for these women during the week was 9 people and most clients were from the north and center of the city. Regarding HIV infection of women engaged in sex work, it should be said: 75 percent of these women have no information about HIV and 68 percent of single women and 75 percent of divorced women have never had an HIV test.
Usually People Think Women Engaged in Sex Work Are Runaways
76 percent of these women never had a history of running away from home and only 12 percent of these women had experienced imprisonment before engaging in sex work. Meanwhile, the fact that many officials and people assume that most of them are runaways is absolutely not correct, or mostly they consider these individuals as addicts who are forced into sex work due to drug use. While the relationship between these two issues among these women was only 23 percent.
Bread Poverty at the Forefront of Reasons for Women’s Sex Work
This research emphasizes that “the responsibility of providing for the expenses of several people” during sex work was at the forefront of reasons for these women’s engagement in sex work. Having a history of arrest of themselves or their spouse and parents, especially the father, led them toward being forced into sex work. Among these, the least reason was related to the spread of sex work through socializing with friends engaged in this work. Another issue regarding the economic conditions of these women is that only 22 percent of them were employed before engaging in sex work, and these 22 percent employed were among inefficient and illegal occupations that did not meet their needs.
Most Women Engaged in Sex Work Married in Childhood
Most women engaged in sex work in this research had their first marriage between 15 to 18 years of age, and some even stated that it was before 15 years of age, and thus, according to international laws, they married in childhood. But another shocking issue is that only six percent of these women are illiterate and most of them have middle school, elementary and diploma education. Most importantly, about 14 percent of them had above-diploma and bachelor’s degree education, and if we consider that these statistics are from eight years ago, we can feel the depth of the tragedy more given the developments in society over these eight years. 11 percent of these women were permanently married, 42 percent single, 39 percent divorced, 4 percent widowed, and also a small number of them were those who lived separately from their spouses without divorce.
In fact, it must be said that the line between sex work and temporary marriage is very blurred and this makes the situation more difficult.
Based on this research, the first experience of these women was on the street side and usually after that they entered networks of this profession. At the time of preparing this research, 42 percent of these women attracted clients through social relationships, 22 percent through presence on street sides and 25 percent through telephone contact, and of course there were other ways. The place of attracting clients was also the main streets of the city or the homes of these men, which of course is very surprising.
It must be said that the possibility of young people being drawn to this harm and attracting women engaged in sex work is high and the existence of these women cannot be denied.
According to news agencies, verified statistics on the age of sex work differ significantly from statistics eight years ago. Unfortunately, 44.1 percent of women use contraceptives in their sexual relations but even this number, if they receive more money, would refrain from using such devices. The average age of the first sexual relationship of these women was 16 years old. Also, in research conducted recently on working and street children, it was found that 4 percent of them have sexual relations. Also, the prevalence rate of alcohol and drug consumption including crystal meth among these women is at the warning threshold.
The Legislator Wants This Crime to Remain Unproven
Regarding the type of law’s treatment of the issue of “adultery” it should be said that: if we had four just witnesses who saw adultery with their own eyes, it could be proven, but no reasonable person commits this act in front of four just witnesses, or it is stated elsewhere in the law that the guilty person must confess to the crime four times, in such circumstances the question arises: which reasonable person confesses to a crime four times knowing that the result is execution? Under such circumstances, we see that the legislator itself wants these types of crimes to not be proven at all and in fact crimes that deal with the moral foundations of society remain closed, because they believe that the more said and proven about these issues, the more it will cause their spread and proliferation in society and weaken the moral foundations.
It should be known that the type of treatment of women engaged in sex work in the early days of the revolution and its consequences have also been very effective in the spread of this issue: administrative treatment of these individuals was very extensive and when once a person was arrested for this crime and then released, gradually the heinousness of this act was dissipated in society. Now consider today’s conditions of society which are not at all comparable to 30 years ago; it is said that 500 women live in cardboard houses in Tehran and we should ask why and how we have reached this number?
In these years, laws related to this crime have been amended and in the law of 92 it was stated that this crime is not subject to investigation unless it has a private complainant or is flagrant. For example, if a spouse or husband claimed in court that their spouse is in a relationship with another person or if this crime is openly committed on the streets of the city in a flagrant manner, it is subject to investigation. In such circumstances, if a woman complains to court that her husband has relationships outside the norm, she cannot be a complainant because it is usually stated that this man has taken the woman into his permanent or temporary contract, but a man can be a complainant, which is also a legal flaw that is constantly criticized by critics.
In Iran, some issues have become mixed together and someone who engages in sex work is sometimes like an addict, sometimes a criminal and sometimes a patient, and they both abuse their patient status and their criminal status, and there is no sincere look for the improvement of these individuals.
