Burma’s Sex Worker Population on the Rise

The recent economic crisis in Burma—including a drastic devaluation of the kyat—has led more Burmese women to turn to the sex industry to support themselves and their families, according to an aid worker in Rangoon.

The volunteer, who requested anonymity, said that the country’s increasing economic woes have made it more difficult for families to survive. In growing numbers, women are finding that they can augment their income by working as prostitutes.

Prices on a variety of commodities in Rangoon have increased dramatically in recent months. In October, the ruling junta increased gas prices in Burma from 180 kyat (approximately 14 US cents) to 1,500 kyat (approximately US $1.21), following previous rises in the cost of utilities and the price of newspapers. The increase in gas prices has also affected transportation costs for many of the country’s most impoverished residents.

According to the aid worker, prostitution is attracting more women because it is an easy way for them to earn extra money. Many women—often housewives and young girls sent out by their parents—walk the streets pretending to sell mosquito netting, when in fact they are selling sex.

“More students have [become] sex workers [to pay] for their school fees,” said one university student in Rangoon.

Aung Lay, a Rangoon resident and frequent patron of the city’s nightclubs and karaoke bars, said that such places are popular among sex workers because they offer an easy environment to solicit clients, and the number of women working as prostitutes in the clubs has increased in recent months.

The situation is the same in other parts of Burma. Ngwe Pyu, a resident of Three Pagodas Pass near the Thai-Burma border, said that the number of female sex workers along the border has also increased recently, many of them between the ages of 14 and 16.

“The sex trade in Yangon [Rangoon] is rapidly growing and is characterized by a high degree of complexity,” according to a recent report by the Centre for International Health at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia.

“The number of female sex workers [in Rangoon] is estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000, and there are [approximately] 100 brothels operating in various townships around the city,” the report added.

Reliable data about the number of sex workers in Burma is difficult to find.