Publications & Tools

A resource by Srilatha Batliwala (CREA) and shared by NAMATI – a practitioner’s primer to “understanding power in terms of both power structures and power relations.”
“The purpose of this primer is to sort out the confusion and help us move to a shared understanding of power, so that all of us who are committed to social and gender justice can build our strategies from a more comprehensive, shared definition and analysis of power as it operates in society, regardless of our specific issues or socio-economic, political, and cultural contexts.” Also available in Bengali, Nepali, and Hindi.

OpenDemocracy has a wide range of argicles and reports on Sex Work within its Beyond Trafficking and Slavery Channel

The CMI! campaign Counting Sex Workers In! puts a spotlight on sex worker-led advocacy and highlights the voices and perspectives of sex workers of all genders in order to advance understanding that sex workers? rights are human rights and a feminist issue. Counting Sex Workers In! partners have developed a series of fact sheets that highlight commonplace challenges that sex workers face and how allies can take action to support sex workers rights.

An extensive library of publications about sex work including overviews, histories, transnational studies, as well as policy and legal debates. debates,

The meeting Donor Dialogue: Donor Collaboration to Advance the Human Rights of Sex Workers brought together sex worker activists and donors with backgrounds in human rights, women’s rights, global health and social justice to strategize on the establishment of a formal donor collaboration mechanism to advance the rights of sex workers. A background report was commissioned to examine the current context of sex work and human rights, the range of organizations currently working to advance sex worker rights, and the expectations of the involved donors for the proposed collaboration. Co-organized by Mama Cash and the Open Society Institute’s Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP), in collaboration with AIDS Fonds, American Jewish World Service, Global Fund for Women, HIVOS, and the Oak Foundation.

Sex workers’ rights are central to the fight for women’s rights and for achieving gender equality. Yet, there continues to be disagreement about how best to ensure that women in the sex industry are free from violence and discrimination.

Although originally created in order to develop a common language, and history within the JASS community, we quickly realized the dictionary’s potential as a vehicle for the political act of defining our world based on a distinct feminist perspective – one that recognizes how distortions in social, economic, and political power form the basis of inequality and justice.
Building on the 1st edition, this updated version incorporates the feedback of a number of reviewers within the JASS community. It is built on the collective expertise and experience of JASS’ community of feminist popular educators, scholars, and activists from 27 countries in Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.

A personal reflection by African feminist Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.

“At the time of Mama Cash?s founding, prostitution and pornography were most often interpreted by members of the women’s movement solely as forms of oppression and the exploitation of women. (During the 1980s, people mostly used the word “prostitute”. After the publication in 1987 of Carol Leigh?s anthology Sex Work: Writings By Women In The Sex Industry, the broader term “sex worker” gained in popularity within the women?s rights movement). Mama Cash?s position was that women in the sex industry have the same right as all other women to sexual and economic self-determination, an independent and legally accepted existence and protection against discrimination and violence. This position has always guided Mama Cash?s activities and has led her to support both Dutch and international sex workers’ rights movements. Over the years, she has managed to bridge the gap between activists in the field and the international donor community and has continued to be a leader in the discussion about sex work.”

This is a 5-module toolkit for women activists and defenders?everywhere. “It is part of our work on offering activist tools for the political moment. This toolkit takes a topic often handled in very technical and individually oriented ways (safe houses, window bars, panic buttons) to a feminist and movement approach (contextual awareness, risk analysis in the context of power and gender dynamics, linked strategies for organizing and safety, etc). It links risk analysis for activists to power analysis, gender impacts and movement strategies for greater safety in risk contexts.”

“Feminist movements are key drivers of transformative and lasting change. Yet they continue to receive just 1% of all gender focused aid. The case for WHY feminist movements need more and better funding has long been made, and is increasingly heard.

Now HOW funding moves needs to change. AWID and Mama Cash, in the context of our Count Me In! partnership, are excited to share our new report in which we catalogue concrete positive practices, “Moving More Money to the Drivers of Change: How Bilateral and Multilateral Funders Can Resource Feminist Movements.”

The last decade saw increasing attacks against sex worker communities globally, not only from governments and political actors but also from abolitionist feminist activists. While governments chose to tackle ?the issue of prostitution? through punitive, rather than social measures by directly criminalizing sex workers, or indirectly punishing them by offences of drug use and possession, homelessness, hooliganism or vagrancy, abolitionist feminists mobilized and lobbied for the introduction of the criminalization of clients (also known as the Swedish Model). This model criminalizes the purchase of sexual services, at the same time it pushes sex workers into clandestine working environments, exposing them to health risks and violence.

In Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA), similar abolitionist proposals so far have not reached legislative levels, but public debates surrounding sex work have intensified. In the region, abolitionist feminists might not have very close ties to governments (yet), however, they shape public opinion through their platforms and media connections, and frequently (cyber-)bully sex worker rights activists.

“This written submission is made on behalf of the Sex Worker Inclusive Feminist Alliance (SWIFA), a coalition of organizations including
Amnesty International, to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), in response to its call for comments on the draft general recommendation on trafficking of women and girls in the context of global migration. Please also see Amnesty International?s accompanying submission IOR 40/2274/2020.

For International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers 2019, Mama Cash invited two sex workers’ rights activists to join Mama Cash on the podcast: Velvet December, Advocacy Coordinator for Dutch sex workers’ union PROUD, and Vera Rodriguez, Programme Associate at international fund for sex workers’ rights activists – the Red Umbrella Fund. You also hear from Mama Cash’s grantee-partners the English Collective of Prostitutes about their current campaign.”The livelihood of sex workers must not be collateral damage to the dismantling of the patriarchy.”

The Podcast unpacked?about how sex work intersects with capitalism and patriarchy, recent developments in legislation and activism around the world, and why sex workers are calling for decriminalisation (and not the Nordic model). Plus, they share what we can all do to support our local sex workers’ rights movement. Transcript available, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, or Stitcher.