Community Organizations and Rights: Women Sex Workers and HIV/AIDS in Karnataka, India

• In Event: 027 - Regular Session. Social Deminsions of AIDS

Abstract

Globally, in 2014, 36.9 million people were living with HIV and of these almost 15 million are women. HIV as an epidemic is increasingly concentrated in pockets with high rates among specific subpopulations often referred to high risk groups (HRGs).Among HRGs are women sex workers (WSW). Several attempts have been made to define, identify, and categorize structural factors, such as organizational and community aspects, in HIV epidemics. An intervention to address structural factors and facilitate HIV prevention is the creation of community organizations (community refers to specific high risk groups such as WSWs). In this paper we analyze the ways in which member participants of community organizations perceive their rights and whether and how they rely on the collective agency to make demands. Relying on qualitative in-depth interviews with WSWs in India, we examine the perception of rights among WSWs as members of a community organization which requires consideration of a complex dimension related to the concealment of their identity as sex workers. Practical and strategic gender interests are therefore intertwined particularly in the case of marginalized people such as WSWs whose demands include social entitlements such as the national identity card or applying for and getting a ‘ration’ card that enables purchasing basic food items from a fair price shop. It allows for providing for herself and her family, particularly her children. In contrast to the more tangible rights, the WSWs also make intangible demands such as respect that is partly gained through the community organization.

Author

• Jenean Cox, Purdue University