Women in power and out of it
HE RISE of women into to the children and because they are dependent. Poverty and illiteracy are for women and children the bars of a prison cage.
Many are driven from the home and take to living on the streets and are exploited and abused and forced by pimps, reveals. They need protection, therapy and education.
Young women of the street who are sex workers are vulnerable and abused, and although many may say they do it voluntarily, they have background circumstances that preclude free choice. They need to be helped and respected, and not to be stigmatized or made into objects of ridicule or fun. In many countries, they are treated as criminals. The law in Sweden and France does not criminalize them but gives them the social assistance and an alternative lifestyle. It is the customers who exploit these young women’s vulnerability and dependency who are dealt with as criminals—and rightly so.
The modern trend is to show compassion, understanding, and to give these sex workers the social help they need to regain trust and dignity. Alternatives have to be provided by government and civil society; also therapy and counseling when possible to boost their self-esteem and motivate them toward a life of respect through training, education and work with dignity.
Too often the street “working girls” are ignored and their plight treated lightly and without understanding. They have to be seen as vulnerable and abused, not ignored as if this is their normal role in society.
Pope Francis had this to say about the street people victimized by the people traffickers. holds tens of millions in inhumane and humiliating bondage. to be an atrocious scourge that is present throughout the world on a broad scale, even as tourism.
“This crime of “lèse humanite” masquerades behind seemingly acceptable customs, but in reality claims its victims through forced labor, slave labor, [genital] mutilation, the sale of [body] organs, the consumption of [illegal] drugs, and child labor. It hides behind closed doors, in particular places, in the streets, automobiles, factories, the countryside, in fishing boats, and many other places.”
In the Philippines, what can be done is to curb and control child pornography on the internet as mandated by Philippine law but universally ignored by the Inter- the sex bars. They can enact local laws or ordinances to criminalize the customers and exploiters, not the women, and stop jailing the modern slavery and build a community that has profound respect for street women and children.