Poverty and sex work in Durban, South Africa

Abstract

As the experience of the welfare state in the developed world has demonstrated, many of the problems associated with poverty are not due to a lack of income. In South Africa, one group of high-income women, who nonetheless display many of the signs of poverty, are commercial sex workers. Seventy sex workers were interviewed about their backgrounds, lifestyles, work practices and aspirations. While the women interviewed were found to be as diverse as those in any other form of work generally, most displayed an inability to plan beyond immediate needs. They were found to reside in over-priced and squalid ‘daily accommodation’ hotels, and display high levels of drug abuse. Thus, despite earning an income six times the national average, most of the women reported living the lives of poor people.