As the coronavirus pandemic continues to bring large parts of the world to a standstill, with more than 1.4 million cases worldwide, more than 81,000 deaths and about one-third of the global population under some form of lockdown, sex workers are waging a continuing struggle with their governments simply to be recognized as worthy of the same economic relief now being offered other workers in many countries.
In Japan, the government has put together package of economic aid for employers, to pay workers who must now stay home with children during the prolonged school closures caused by the pandemic. But the aid bill specifically excluded adult entertainment businesses—meaning that workers in the adult industry would be forced to show up for their jobs, leaving their kids at home alone, according to a report by the Japanese English-language newspaper, The Mainichi.
"Why are people in the adult entertainment industry being excluded?" asked Japanese lawmaker Manabu Terata, at an April 6 committee meeting to discuss the aid package. “While care is required when using public funds, people who are working face a variety of circumstances."
But Labor Minister Katsunobu Kato has said he has no plans to change the provisions of the aid package, which cuts out businesses not deemed “appropriate to use public assistance.”
After the April 6 meeting, however, the government’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that he would “review the guidelines of the subsidy package,” offering at least a glimmer of hope for sex workers and performers with suddenly increased child care responsibilties.
AVN.com has previously reported on sex workers in South Africa, where sex work remains illegal and workers in the industry have been shut out of their country’s coronavirus economic relief packages.
According to a report on the All Africa news site, providing aid to sex workers through the crisis has fallen to private charity groups. Eugene van Rooyen of the country’s Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce told All Africa that shortly before the country went into lockdown, he distributed food vouchers throughout several major cities, targeted at the homeless population, but always giving preference to sex workers, he said.
van Rooyen’s group and other advocacy organizations have called on the government to "make urgent provision to the 'Temporary Employee Relief Scheme' to include sex workers ... as their livelihood has been disrupted,” according to a statement by the group.
Fortunately, a private group has stepped up to aid suffering Africans. DKT International, one of the largest providers of contraception and safe abortion products which was created by Adam & Eve founder Philip D. Harvey, is working to mitigate the impending effects of COVID-19 on global access to contraceptives by adopting necessary preemptive measures. In response to the recent global health crisis, DKT has announced the expansion of its partnership with The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to aid sexual and reproductive health and rights in the DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania. SIDA will provide an additional 20 million Swedish krona (roughly $1.9 million USD) to ensure that DKT is equipped to handle potential supply shortages and expand access to contraception and safe abortion in East and Southern Africa.
Before COVID-19 impedes access to vital pharmaceutical products, SIDA’s additional financial contribution will give DKT’s programs in East and Southern Africa the opportunity to stock up on the essentials, including: condoms, medical abortion, oral contraception, emergency contraception, and injectables.
In France, however, the news is not so good. According to an AFP report, the government will issue cash payments in the equivalent of about $1,600 to independent workers—but again, sex workers have been specifically ruled ineligible for the stimulus checks.
The sex worker advocacy coalition known as the Red Umbrella Federation is now calling on French President Emanuel Macron to create a special fund for sex workers, “to provide replacement income for the duration of confinement.”
The Federation statement called creation of an emergency fund, “the only solution to prevent risk-taking associated with the practice of sex work. It is a matter of public health, not only for us, but also for clients and the general public."
Photo By Bojan Cvetanović / Wikimedia Commons
