Understanding how vulnerable women engage the state through participation: Advocating for sex workers’ rights in Cape Town

Abstract

In recent years, the unequal distribution of citizens’ rights and benefits for women in the sex work industry has become a major political and social issue in South Africa. This mini-thesis argues that women in this industry are differently oppressed according to race and class. This is done through a specific case study of the Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), a non-governmental organization based in Observatory, Cape Town. The thesis explores (i) the perceptions of sex workers on how sex work is commonly understood in gendered, racial and class terms, (ii) how this affects their lives, especially their rights as citizens, and (iii) what they do to address these challenges and to (re)claim their positions in society.