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Tracking the sex workers along the roads of Lahore city and exploring the unsympathetic social behaviors in social GIS aspects


Methodology
In this research method many research tools were used. The main research tools were questionnaire and interview with sex workers and some of their clients. GIS tools were also use like GPS receiver to mark the sex workers and then all collected data was transferred on digital map of Lahore city to make spatial social and proximity analysis. (Kennedy, 2000). Then all this data was analyzed to reveal the root causes and ground reality that reinforce sex worker to come on the road. The Population of this research were sex workers and sample was selected randomly from roadside sex workers as has been described earlier. No doubt it was a difficult task and it take one and half year to accomplish this research work. Total 280 respondent were investigated excluding clientage of the these sex workers. The delimitation of the study is the Hippocratic nature and behavior of common people.

Tacking the Sex workers on Road
Roadside sex workers are available almost from 7 a.m to maximum 12 p.m in summer and 8 a.m to 11 p.m in winter season. where these sex workers are available almost in all roads but the most prominent roads are Mall road, Wahdat road, canal road, Ferozpur road, Multan road, Circular Road and jail road where the business of sex workers are at the peak from 7 pm to midnight. These sex workers are standing near bus stops or those locations where they can be distinguished easily from other commuters. They usually trapping the sex hunters by waving their eyes. They trap the persons according to their status and age. Their clientage include all type of men pertaining to different type of professions like labours, students, businessmen, caretakers, according to their pocket. They take decision in a short time to reject or select a person. If a client is pedestrian then auto rickshaw driver also came near to them to get double fair. The experience sex workers usually select those clients who have cars or at least motor bike. The rate is fixed in according to time and number of persons. In our sample only 5% sex workers offer abode also. Otherwise it is responsibility of client to arrange a place that may be a flat in a plaza, hotel or any vacant house of that client. The rate is negotiable and it can be trusted or mistrusted by number of persons who are not narrated at the spot. Usually students do not give the exact figure of clients. But the person above 30 have nice behaviour with sex workers. Police and other security personnel have also link these sex workers who also hunt the client with the help of these sex workers and then empty the pocket of client in the name of Islamic law. Among these sex workers, 65 % respondent usually worried about police behaviour that if the they captured by the police then they will be brutally raped freely and without any wages by whole police station at any time of the week or days. Such victims in roadside or call girl type sex workers at once change their location to get rid of these “Guards of Law”. The average earning of an average age woman is 20 to 50 US$/day. Teenagers and upto 30 years old sex workers have higher rates while above 30 years old sex workers attain 5 to 20US $/day depending upon their body physic and fitness. The most old women become supplier of young sex workers and get commission usually with half percentage.


Figure 1 Family Bacground and Marital Status of Sex workers

Most of the sex workers belong to lower middle and lower class. They live below the poverty line. At least 45 million people out of the country's 140 million population live in abject poverty.(Ministry of Finance, 2003) Average family size of sex workers is 5-7 family members. 45 % among married sex workers claim that their husband is unemployed and 21 % say that their husband is drug eddicted and the remaining 24 % say that their husband is a labour and has no permanent job that do not meet the family expenses. The sex workers who claim that they are still unmarried, 88 % do this job due to large family size and dependent. 37% of unmarried sex workers do this job as a part time. They work in different private organizations, factories, restaurants, or shops like beauty parlors, boutiques, departmental stores family clinics, maternity centres, marriage bureaus, guest houses and after the end of job timing they also pick the client to raise their funds. Divorced and separated sex workers also active in this field. The cover of this type of job also provide married women also.


If we observed the education level of these sex workers mostly, they are illiterate or having education upto elementary level. Only 3% have graduate level of education. Only one out of total respondent has a master level degree. The illiterate and primary level of education of these sex workers is high as 24% and 35% respectively. Mostly the part time roadside sex workers have upto higher secondary level of education.


Pull and Push Factors of Roadside Sex workers
There are many pull and push factors that forced sex workers to stand on the road. According to International Human Rights Monitoring (IHRM) group, As many as 44 percent women resort to the sex trade due to poverty, 32 percent by deception, 18 percent due to coercing, 4 percent due to surroundings (born to sex workers) and only 2 percent are involved in the sex trade at their own will. But these facts depict roughly all type of sex workers. The road side sex workers have some different. Now doubt poverty is a major factor but other factors cannot be neglected. All the sex workers who start their business can not take risk to start from their own Muhallah(zone like Union Council) or neighboring street or superb. Because they live in lower middle class areas where all neighbors are very concerned to each other. Women as well as men particularly old age gender are in search of suspicious and thrilling stories. May be we find only few men in any union council that can be declared innocent or abstinent but we are so hypocrite about reality that when ever we find any sex workers in our neighbor, all the people protest against them in the name of honour , filthy environment. So the sex workers have to evacuate their homes that is usually taken on rent. Then they can only live their under the auspice of Police. Otherwise they have to go from their. If the sex workers give monthly(A type of bribery that is given to the police to save the whore’s residence). This observation can be seen on posh areas of Lahore city where elite class live and has no concern about the work type of their neighbors. But, road side sex workers do not want to reveal themselves as a prostitution and show as a factory workers or any type of related job where night sift usually come to work. So, including poverty, the common people’s unsympathetic and hatred behaviour push them to come on the road. There is also supplier called in local language “Naika” or “Dalal”( pimps) who take orders and send sex workers to their clients. But they charge half or some times 60 percent of total amount fixed for entertainment. So, the sex workers feel unease and try to get rid of such pimps and Naikas to get full money. So they themselves pull towards the road to hunt client on their own efforts. Some time one friend has become a sex workers then she persuade their friends to come on roads to earn some money with enjoyment also. Most of the unmarried sex workers do not want to register themselves to the pimps or Naikas because they want to remain concealed so they avoid them and push towards road.

Proximity Analysis of Sex Workers
Proximity is a measure of the distance between features. It is most commonly measured in units of length but can be measured in other units such as travel time or noise level.( Aronoff,1995.But here we will investigate the traveling distance from the dwelling of a sex workers to road and then to client abode. A road side sex worker travel an average distance away from home to road an average of 5 to 15 kilometer and then almost same distance from road to client abode. This traveling becomes at least 20 to maximum 60 kilometer to return safe at home within the city. Here both client and sex workers covered the same distance to conceal his type of work from their friends and relatives. A sex hunter is also pick the sex worker away from his home or known places and also sex worker prefer the same mode of business. In this way both client and sex host save their so-called honour. When ever the sex workers are exposed as a prostitution, they have to leave the area. So, they do not live more than a year in fixed place due to leakage of their kind of profession. They also change their residence due to remain hide from police also. Therefore, about 92 % of total respondents live on rent bases home.


Figure 2 The Distance Covered by a Sex Worker



Figure 3 Psycho-social and geographic aspects

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