Women sex workers in Assam (India): risks, vulnerabilities, and insecurities

Despite India’s commitment to achieving gender equality under SDG 5, women sex workers continue to face entrenched gender-based discrimination, structural inequalities, and violence. While their lives are marked by pervasive social stigma, abuse, and exploitation, access to government welfare policies and essential social services continue to remain elusive. The interplay of these socio-economic constraints exacerbates social exclusion and intensifies marginalisation. Grounded in a field study and articulated through lived experiences of women sex workers (WSWs) in Assam and supported by secondary sources, this article argues that despite the existence of constitutional safeguards, WSWs routinely experience violations of their “rights” and compromises on their “dignity”, exposing them to heightened “risks” and “vulnerabilities” in their daily lives. Furthermore, limited access to state “welfare provisions”, combined with the absence of viable alternative “livelihood” opportunities, intensifies “insecurity” and precarity in the lives of women sex workers.