First country to provide maternity leave and pension for sex workers

Warning: Some details of this story may disturb you.

“I had to work when I was nine months pregnant,” said Belgian sex worker Sophie.

“I was working as a sex worker even a week before I gave birth to my child,” she said.

It is very difficult for Sophie to work as a sex worker while raising her five children.

Sophie, who does not want to reveal her identity, was advised to take complete rest for six weeks due to a cesarean during the birth of her fifth child.

Sophie said she had no choice and had to return to work immediately. “I could not leave work because I needed money,” she said.

Her life would have been easier if she had the opportunity to take maternity leave.

However, Belgium has come up with a new law, under which sex workers will now be able to take maternity leave. This will be a part of their employment contract. Not only this, sex workers will also be entitled to other facilities like health insurance, pension, and sick leave, that is, their work will be considered like any other job. This is going to happen for the first time in the world.

Sophie says, “This is an opportunity for us to live like normal people.”

According to the International Union of Sex Workers, there are about 52 million sex workers around the world. Belgium decriminalized this profession in the year 2022. It is also legally valid in Turkey and Peru.

But giving employment rights and contracts to sex workers is probably the first time in the world that a country has done this.

‘It is the best step’

Human Rights Watch researcher Erin Kilbride said that this is the best step so far. Every country needs to move forward in this direction.

However, critics say the law will not stop sex workers from being exploited, trafficked, and abused.

Julie Crumier, who volunteers with Isala, an NGO that supports sex workers in Belgium, said it was dangerous because it normalized a profession that was always violent at its core.

For many sex workers, the job is a necessity.

Sex worker Mel said she was terrified when a man forced her to have oral sex without a condom. She had to do this at a time when sexually transmitted infections were rampant in her brothel. But she had no choice but to say yes.

She says, “I had two options. Either I would have STE or I would have to live without earning money.”

Mel became a sex worker at the age of just 23 because she needed money. Within a few days of joining the profession, she started earning more money than she had expected. She thought she had got it all, but then STIs shattered all her hopes.

Mel can now refuse a person if she feels uncomfortable. She believes that if this law had been in place earlier, she would have handled the situation differently.

She said, “I could have told the woman who gave me work that madam, you are violating the rules and you should treat me properly. I would have been legally protected.”

This law of Belgium is the result of nationwide protests there in the year 2022. At that time, sex workers came out on the streets due to lack of help from the government during the Corona epidemic.

The main face among the protesters was Victoria, who is the president of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers (UTSOPI) and has worked as a sex worker for 12 years.

This was a personal struggle for her.

Before the year 2022, Victoria had to work with many challenges and in an unsafe environment. They had no choice and the agency that employed them kept a large part of the earnings for itself.

‘I was raped’

Victoria said that a man had gone mad at her and he raped her.

She said, “When I went to the police station to lodge a complaint, the lady officer told me that a sex worker cannot be raped. She made me feel that it was my fault because I was working as a sex worker.”

Victoria came out of the police station crying. Victoria said that she feels that this new law will improve her life.

All the sex workers we talked to said that at one time or another they were pressured to work against their will.

Victoria said that if there is no law, your work is illegal and there will be no rules that will help you.

Those who look after the work of sex workers will work under the law and they will have to follow the rules. If they are guilty of a serious crime, they will not be able to keep a sex worker for work.

Chris Riekmans and his wife Alexandra run the Erotic Massage Parlour on Love Street in Beckevoort.

Chris Riekmans said many people will have to stop working because many of those who employ sex workers have criminal records.

When we visited the parlor it was full, which we did not expect on a Monday morning. During this time we were shown massage beds, towels, hot tubs, and swimming pools.

Chris and his wife employ 15 sex workers. They both say that we are proud of treating sex workers with respect and paying them good wages.

Chris said, “I hope that those who do not treat sex workers properly will stop working and good people who want to run this profession honestly will stay.”

Erin also believes the same, but Julie said that ‘most of the women we helped say that they want to leave this job and do a ‘normal job’ like other people.’

‘Now is my future’

Under Belgium’s new law, there will be an alarm button in every room where sex workers work. This button will connect the sex worker to the person of their choice.

On the other hand, Julie believes that there is no way to make sex work safe.

“Do you need a panic button in any other job? This is not the oldest profession but the oldest exploitation in the world.”

How to bring the sex industry under the purview of rules? This remains a matter of debate all over the world, but Mel says that I am proud that Belgium is so far ahead.

“Now is my future.”

Keeping in mind the safety of the people, the names of many characters in the story have been changed.