...involved in the sex trade as means of survival. Once involved, they face daily challenges to meeting basic physical needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter, as well as social needs, such as safety and connection to others. Those who work toward leaving the street face additional barriers in their own personal lives, their families, and in the greater community. We interviewed women in the inner city who were actively involved in the sex trade as well as women who had left the sex trade, to understand their past experiences, current realities, and how they saw their futures. Together, multiple challenges exist for sex trade workers in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods that serve as barriers to exiting the sex trade, and contribute to their challenges in inner city communities, such as poor housing and social exclusion.

Keywords: Inner city neighbourhoods, women working in the sex trade

Resume

Les femmes des quartiers centraux de Winnipeg qui pratiquent le commerce du sexe ont en commun un passe et une realite actuelle marquee par l'abus, la violence, l'instabilite residentielle, le racisme et la discrimination. Ces experiences, combinees avec un manque d'education ou d'experience de travail, contribuent a leur insecurite economique. Pour ces femmes le commerce du sexe est une question de survie. Une fois impliques, elles font quotidiennement face aux defis de satisfaire les besoins physiques de base, comme l'alimentation, vetement et logis, ainsi que des besoins sociaux comme la securite et etablir des rapports avec autrui. Les femmes desirant abandonner le commerce du sexe ont des defis additionnels en ce qui concerne leurs vies personnelles, leurs familles et la communaute. Nous avons interviewe des femmes qui sont activement impliquees dans le commerce du sexe au sein des quartiers centraux, ainsi que, des femmes qui ont abandonne le commerce du sexe. Uobjectif etait d'examiner la realite actuelle, leurs experiences passees, et comment elles entrevoient leurs avenirs. Ainsi, un ensemble de defis existe pour les femmes qui pratiquent le commerce du sexe dans les quartiers desavantages. Ces derniers sont une barriere a l'abandon de ce type de pratique, la pauvrete residentielle et l'exclusion sociale.

Mots cles : quartier centraux, femme et le commerce du sexe

Like other Canadian prairie cities, Winnipeg's inner city is comprised of several centrally-located neighbourhoods. While each has its own needs and strengths, together, these core area neighbourhoods share challenges associated with high poverty rates and a lack of local, affordable housing. With the support of the Winnipeg Inner-City Research Alliance, academics at the University of Manitoba initiated a research partnership with the North End Housing Project to study the contributors and barriers to a healthy community from the perspective of local people. The research team grew to include students, agency staff and several residents. We met many times and talked at great length about healthy communities. As these discussions evolved, it became clear that there were some groups who faced particular challenges to being active and feeling included in their community. Based on the expertise of our team, the research focused on the experiences of men who had done jail time and women working in the sex trade. This paper reports the results of our interviews with women working in the sex trade.

Winnipeg's Inner City

Winnipeg's inner city includes forty core area neighbourhoods that together make up approximately 6% of the total city land area (Statistics Canada 2001). During the most recent Census period (1996-2001), the inner city population declined (-3.9%), while the population of Winnipeg increased (0.2%). The population density of the inner city is well over twice the non-inner city population density (Statistics Canada 2001). While there are no striking differences in age distributions or family sizes between the inner city and the non-inner city, there are substantial differences in education, labour force participation, income levels, and housing.

Educational attainment among inner city residents is lower and fewer school-aged youth are attending school, on average, than among non-inner city residents. Approximately 12% of inner city residents, aged 20 or older, have less than a grade 9 education, compared to 6% of non-inner city residents (Statistics Canada 2001). A smaller proportion of inner city residents, aged 15-24, are attending school either full or part-time (approximately 40% of inner-city youth, compared to approximately 50% of non inner-city youth) (Statistics Canada 2001).

Labour force data show that among those aged 15 and older, unemployment is higher in the inner city than the non-inner city, and that within the inner city there are gender differences in labour force participation. Unemployment in the inner city (9%) is almost double what it is for non-inner city residents (5%) (Statistics Canada 2001). Close to half of women (52%) in the inner city were employed in the week prior to the last census, while almost two-thirds of men were (63%) during the same period (Statistics Canada 2001).

Income source and levels are different for residents of Winnipeg's inner city and non-inner city. A greater proportion of resident income in the inner city comes by way of government transfers (19%) than in the non-inner city (11%) (Statistics Canada 2001). The family poverty frequency is three times that of the non-inner city (33% versus 12%) The level of income for 2000 is substantially lower among male inner city residents (approximately $13,000 less than the non-inner city average) and among female inner city residents (approximately $18,000 less than the non inner city average).

The housing available for inner city residents is older and more often in need of repair than in the non-inner city. Approximately two-thirds of housing in the inner city was built before the 1960s, while only one-third of the housing in the rest of Winnipeg is the same age (Statistics Canada 2001). Close to half of the inner city housing stock is in need of repair. The average dwelling value is about 40,000 dollars less in the inner city ($105,882 versus $64,401) than in the rest of the city (Statistics Canada 2001). Most inner city residents rent their housing (approximately 2/3 are renters), and the average rent is $490 per month, which is less than the average rent in other parts of the city ($574) (Statistics Canada 2001).

Challenges Faced by Women in the Inner City Sex Trade

Women in the inner city are more likely to have had an interrupted formal education, only modest experience in the...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



More articles from Canadian Journal of Urban Research
"Welfare is the second last resort. The last resort is death (1)". An ..., June 22, 2006
Fringe financial services, inner-city banking & community-based soluti..., June 22, 2006
Books received., June 22, 2006

Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.

Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication name or publication date.

About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company analysis or best practices in managing your organization, Goliath can help you meet your business needs.

Our extensive business information databases empower business professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible, authoritative information they need to support their business goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting, company research or defining management best practices - Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.