Abstract
In most countries, sex-work is criminalized and frowned upon. This leads to human rights abuses, especially for migrant female sex workers. The burden is heavier on migrant female sex-workers whose gender and foreign citizenship intersect to produce a plethora of adverse health, social, and legal outcomes. This phenomenological study explores the intersectionality of individual factors leading to human rights abuses among migrant Cameroonian female sex workers in N’Djamena, Chad. Ten female sex workers and two key-informants were interviewed, and being a small sample, they gave detailed information about their experiences. The data was later analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants narrated experiences of social exclusion, exposure to diverse abuses, and health risks due to gender, immigrant status, and illegality of sex work. The experiences of female migrant sex workers, within contexts of sex work criminalization, are exacerbated by the intersectionality of these factors. Women endure several vulnerabilities in many African countries, more so when they have to survive on sex work as foreigners in a country where the act is illegal.
Highlights
All over the world female migrant sex workers face the harsh reality of intersectionality daily
This study aimed at exploring the intersectionality of individual factors: female gender; migrant status; and illegal sex work, to document how they produce human rights abuses at the macro-level drawing from the experiences of migrant Cameroonian female sex workers in N’Djamena, Chad
All of the respondents stated that they sometimes got raped by their clients, some policemen, or were not paid for sexual encounters because there were no laws that protected them from the standpoint of the female gender, being migrants, and practicing sex work which is illegal in Chad
Summary
All over the world female migrant sex workers face the harsh reality of intersectionality daily. Migrant sex workers face discrimination within the healthcare and education systems, challenges finding affordable and safe accommodation, and lack of access to childcare and psychological support services. They encounter widespread stigmatization and xenophobic attacks or attitudes from society, branding them as international “immoral women” and “foreigners” [1]. This highlights the intersectionality of being female, being a migrant, and selling sex where it is illegal to do so
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