Desolation in Daulatdia

The opening of the Padma Bridge promises an economic boon, but for the sex workers of the country's largest brothel, right next to Daulatdia ferry terminal, it spells doom.

Only a few ferries now operate between Daulatdia and Paturia, and it means a drastic decline in the number of clients for them.

Having suffered a huge blow to their source of income, these women face the challenge of integrating back into a society that is not ready yet to accept them.

Forced into a life of despair, the women of brothels are among the most neglected and ostracised people in the country.

In most cases, they were forcefully taken and sold there at criminally young ages. Many of them have spent their entire life at the brothel and know little about life outside.

Daulatdia brothel in Rajbari has been "home" to over 1,000 such women.

Julie Akhtar, 25, has been there for four and a half years. Every month, she has to send her family of five at least Tk 10,000 from whatever she earns at the brothel.

However, her life has taken a difficult turn since the opening of the Padma Bridge.

According to the Paturia-Daulatdia terminal authorities, before the Padma bridge opened, around 20-22 ferries would ply the route; now the number has come down to 11 or 12.

The number of vehicles using the ferries too has decreased by 75 percent.

Most of Julie's customers were those who took the ferries. And now, like her, hundreds of them are without clients -- none of them knows what the future holds.

During a recent visit, one of the correspondents saw most of the women sitting idly in front of their rooms. Some were seen cooking, the others roaming about.

They all had the same thing to say – the Padma Bridge will likely move the country miles forward, but it came as "a curse" to them.

Farida Parvin, 36, said, "I have been working here for 16 years and I have never seen such a situation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we had a lot of help from different individuals, organisations and the government. But now nobody comes to help us.

"I have to pay Tk 200 per day for house rent. I have to send money back home, where my mother and daughter, a 10th grader, live. The situation has become so dire that I don't know how to pay for even the basic necessities."

Moni Begum, general secretary of Daulatdia's Helpless Female Unity Organisation, said, "It's true the situation is grim. It isn't just because of the Padma Bridge, but people of the low-income brackets [who account for most of the customers] are also facing financial woes due to rising commodity prices.

"Some of the workers have already left the brothel in search of an alternative income source."

Even during this Eid-ul-Fitr, when many people are expected to use the Daulatdia ferry terminal, the number of customers remained scanty.

"Some people did come by during the few days of Eid, but the numbers weren't that high."

Mukta Akter, also 50, said, "Before the opening of the bridge, thousands of vehicles would pass through the ferry terminals and the drivers waiting for two-three days would account for most of our daily earnings. That situation has changed completely….

"Even this Eid, though some people came, most of them were tourists. Just because they came does not mean we were able to earn anything. Only some of the younger sex workers were able to earn a little at that time."

Farida Parvin, president of Daulatdia Obohelito Mahila-Shishu Unnayan Sangstha (Neglected Women and Children Development Organisation), said, "There are 1,420 listed sex workers in this brothel and all of them are suffering for a lack of work."

About what could be done for the sex workers, Aleya Akhter Lily, president of Sex Workers Network, Bangladesh, said, "The first thing they need is counselling. They are breaking down mentally due to the economic distress. Through counselling, they should be made mentally strong enough to pursue other professions."

Zakir Hossain, upazila nirbahi officer of Goalanda in Rajbari, said, "We are continuing all kinds of activities through NGOs at the brothel. If any of them wants to venture out and return to a normal life, we are ready to give them training and other forms of assistance."

However, the question remains: Will society take them back and let them live "a normal life"?

GETTING BACK INTO SOCIETY

Jahanara Khatun, member, volunteer coordinator and programme manager at Naripokkho, an organisation that works for the rights of sex workers, said, "How are we to expect that a society, which has always shunned and stigmatised sex workers, will help them get integrated back into it again? We can't. It's sad to say so, but if these women come out of Daulatdia in search of alternative work, they will have to starve.

"We must hold the government accountable and responsible first. Sex work is not declared illegal in the country, and even in 1999 when sex workers were removed from a brothel, the High Court ruled that it was unconstitutional and human rights must be guaranteed for all sex workers."

In an earlier discussion with The Daily Star, experts had said that though article 18 (2) of the constitution stipulates that the "state shall take effective preventive measures against prostitution and gambling", an adult person has the option to declare his or her entry into the profession before a magistrate.

"Nowhere in the constitution is the profession declared illegal directly," a former director of the Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association told the discussion.

Jahanara, who has recently concluded a Naripokkho programme on the media's role in ensuring the rights of sex workers, added, "Most of these women are always stamped with the seal of being a sex worker and that is how they are always viewed and treated, no matter how much they try and venture outside.

"Removing this seal and ensuring that these women can live respectable lives and are given their basic rights irrespective of their current or previous professions is a responsibility the government must take."

She concluded that unless the society changes its views towards sex workers and the government raises adequate awareness, the women of Daulatdia, or any of the brothels in the country, will never be able to get out of this desperate situation.

Joya Sikder, founder of trans rights organisation Shomporker Noya Shetu, researcher at icddr, b, and former president of the Sex Workers' Network, further elaborated, "Most of the people who are leaving Daulatdia are middle-aged women, and their age is what will make it tough for them to find new work.

"On the other hand, finding a home will be a huge challenge. Once the people in a neighbourhood find out she was a sex worker, they will mentally torture her and want her out of the area.

"We have heard people claim sex workers to be 'dirty objects'. That's our society – we hate sex workers during the day, but we secretly love them at night."

Joya also believes the biggest actors in this regard have to be the state and the society.

"Teaching the society to treat sex workers with dignity is something the government and all other authorities concerned must do. We have had instances where sex workers were given dignified funerals. Steps like this will make a difference.

"Meanwhile, the state should remember that these women also pay rent tax, and that way the state is also benefitting from them. It must treat every tax-paying citizen equally."

Abul Hashem, assistant director of the social services department in Rajbari, said, "Since there is no legal recognition of the profession of sex workers yet, there is not much we can do to help them. However, we are sympathetic to the situation they are facing. We are working with some local and international NGOs to help the children of the workers."