Banking on Dignity

A story about Calcutta sex workers' efforts to constitute a labour union and have their profession recognised and legally protected.

In the Calcutta neighbourhood of Sonagachi, considered the largest red light district in Asia, more than eleven thousand people practice prostitution. Here, a group of sex workers rebelled against the stigma attached to being a prostitute. From such a feeling of injustice was born Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (the Unstoppable Women Committee - DMSC), an organisation that sought to educate prostitutes in safe sexual practices in the face of the devastating advance of AIDS and to fight for the legalisation of their work and for their recognition within Indian society.

However, despite the fact that this organised group managed to create a support network for associated workers and stop the spread of certain sexually transmitted diseases, the system still discriminated them: they could not hold an identity card or open a bank account yet. For this type of paperwork, they had to falsely register as housewives. These people continued to be denied lives, ghosts for the State.

It was then that Durbar took a step forward and founded USHA Multipurpose Cooperative Society, a sort of banking entity and the first cooperative in Asia created by and for sex workers. Far from the simple goody-goody idea of freeing prostitutes from a profession that many of them chose and now defend, the main strength of USHA lies in the excellent interest rates that they apply to loans and savings accounts, which give a negotiating power to its associates. In addition, it helps its members to obtain an identity card that allows them to access the most basic rights, such as the right to vote.

The objective of these organisations is to confer dignity and individual freedom to those who, for different reasons, are engaged in sex work, as well as to fight against human trafficking and prostitution of minors, a mission in which they collaborate with authorities.

Some might wonder if sex workers choose their profession, since in many cases there is no alternative, or to what extent people who receive money in exchange for sex can be free. However, beyond such theoretical questions, these associations have an eminently practical approach to what happens in Sonagachi. They are concerned with providing protection against exploitation and giving the best possible information to those who decide to stay in the business; they do not promote prostitution, but are realistic, as they know what it is about and try to make it as safe as possible.

On the other hand, a strong sense of community has risen among Durbar's sex workers, helping to destroy the traditional power that traffickers, loan sharks and pimps have had over prostitutes. The empowerment of these workers challenges bourgeois and patriarchal concepts that stigmatise women in general and especially those who engage in prostitution.

Durbar's associates, some 65,000 across West Bengal, support each other to build mutual welfare and comfort, and challenge the age-old prejudice that inevitably makes them look like victims. Where authorities have not arrived yet, this community of sex workers has, by constituting an effective support network that wishes to end the false dilemmas –moral / immoral, dignified / unworthy, decent woman / indecent woman– that have marked their lives. Perhaps because of this deeply rooted sense of community, based in part on the success of their joint actions, some of them have decided to stay and live in the brothel where they worked, despite having retired from prostitution.

Today, USHA has more than 30,000 active members and has drawn the attention of economists and social workers around the world, seduced by how this peculiar cooperative has challenged the established banking system and capitalism itself, while promoting feminism and fighting for the rights of traditionally marginalised groups.