SAFEGUARDING SEX WORK

BETH AMATO

The official recognition of sex work would be a significant human rights gain. Viewing it in a sex-positive framework – rather than through a biomedical or moral lens – could break the stigma of sex work and advance healthcare and justice for those in the profession.

Sex workers – those who are paid in money or kind to perform consensual sexual acts – have forever been given derogatory labels including whore, isifebe, magosha, prostitute and slut. The law reflects and amplifies this visceral contempt, and in South Africa, it is illegal to either buy or sell sex. This criminalisation is a remnant of apartheid legislation, particularly the Immorality Act that outlawed samesex relationships and sex across the colour bar. Continuous and dogged activism is required to legitimise sex work as a valid form of labour and to create cultural and policy environments in which sex work is both safe and permissible.

Brutal Barriers

Sex workers and their allies have challenged stereotypes and made inroads into legitimising sex work. But still, instead of being able to operate in a society that views sex workers as human beings worthy of earning a living, they face brutal barriers – most often in place due to poverty and high unemployment.

According to Naomi Hill, Programme Head and Chief of Party for the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Research Institute

Key Populations Programme, some 922 out of 3 974 (23%, or a quarter) of sex workers receiving antiretroviral therapy reported experiencing violence in 2023.

“There is police malpractice across Wits RHI-assigned implementation districts. We hear of police officers taking away sex workers’ antiretroviral medications and arresting women in possession of condoms on the assumption that they’re sex workers. Our staff provide post-violence care for sex workers who have been sexually assaulted,” says Hill.

Labour Framework

Within this context, an enabling, destigmatising, human rightsbased legislative framework is necessary. Decriminalising sex work and bringing it into the ambit of labour and occupational health and safety legislation – could provide this framework, as in New Zealand and other countries that have adopted this model. Frameworks aside, the public imagination remains beset with misinformation that cements moralistic views and perpetuates stereotypes. To move beyond this, it’s necessary to recognise nuance and the material realities of sex workers – who should not be seen as one-dimensional victims.

Agency At Work

Dr Marlise Richter, Research Associate at the African Centre for Migration and Society, notes that opponents of sex work – often those who believe in incarceration, rehabilitation, and punishment – try to remove the agency and choice of sex workers.

“Some portray sex workers as so confused or traumatised that they are unable to recognise what is beneficial for themselves,” says Richter. “Some ‘prostitution rehabilitation programmes’ claim to help sex workers address what they describe as ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. However, these coercive programmes overlook an important fact: choosing to engage in sex work to provide for oneself, and often for one’s extended family, can be a resourceful strategy and a rational livelihood choice. While this decision may be constrained by various circumstances, it can still be a valid and considered option.”

Advocating Income

When Dr Corey Spengler-Gathercole, a PhD in Political Studies at Wits, interviewed a variety of organisations working with sex workers, she found that those choosing sex work did so because other kinds of work were not as well paid.

“It was often a voluntary and well-thought-out decision to do this labour. Sex workers can determine their working hours, set the price, and, ironically, it empowers women with control over their bodies. Yes, there are threats of violence and stigma, but I found that women could choose with whom to conduct business with,” says Spengler-Gathercole.

Job Satisfaction

Dr Jenny Coetzee, CEO of the African Potential Group, holds a joint appointment at Wits, and believes that the biomedical, legal, and moral viewpoints of sex work minimise the satisfaction that some sex workers may derive from their jobs.

She has met a sex worker in the bondage, discipline, submission, and masochism (BDSM) sector who sets her own parameters about the services she will (or will not) provide, who enjoys her work, and who finds it meaningful and satisfying to earn the kind of money that she does.

“Sex work, like other work, is a service. Even if it’s survival sex, there can be pride in providing for your children and seeing them through school,” says Coetzee. “Other forms of available ‘women’s work’, and what ‘sex work diversion’ programmes offer, won’t equal the income possible through exchanging sex for reward.”

Moreover, Coetzee believes that criminalising sex work hasn’t eradicated its existence and that HIV, STIs and gender-based violence remain scourges giving further impetus to the need to find an alternative framework.

(AFRICAN) SEX-POSITIVE FEMINISM

Richter notes that some “abolitionist feminists” view female sexuality as inevitably repressed by patriarchy. Sex-positive feminists, on the other hand, believe that compulsory heterosexism and sex negativity produce this repression.

Sex-positive feminism is based on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential part of a person’s freedom and that no legitimate restrictions should hinder sexual activity and expression – provided that it occurs within the boundaries of adult mutual consent

“There isn’t anything inherently oppressive about sex work if it is regarded as work, reflects people’s choices, and takes place within the frameworks of mutual consent, human rights and ‘decent work’,” says Richter, and emphasises that sex work should never be conflated with trafficking and child prostitution. An African sex-positive feminism perspective is key to challenging harmful stereotypes.

Most scholars and activists agree that criminal law will not eradicate the sex industry (if that is indeed its aim), and that criminalisation worsens conditions for sex workers, rendering society less safe. Rather, they say, advocate for recognising sex work as legitimate labour. C

A SEX WORKER’S STORY

Amanda, 38, has provided services as a sex worker since she was 24. She is also a peer educator at the Wits RHI’s sex worker outreach programme, offering advice and clinical services to other sex workers, including clinic referrals, the provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), male and female condom distribution and peer counselling. Her peer education work takes up most of her time, but she works as a sex worker on weekends.

“The best part about being a sex worker is the money. It’s simple. I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school because my parents died young. There were no jobs when I tried to get a job to support my younger siblings. I became a sex worker. Because of this I was able to pay for my younger siblings’ school and university fees. The best part of this is that I paid for my child to go to school. Now, she has almost finished her third year of university. We also have a nicer and bigger house to live in. This is all because of sex work.”

Although the money earned from sex work is more than other types of work, Amanda says the operating environment is dangerous. “ Clients abuse us and so do the police. If we get raped, which often happens, we can’t report the crime. The police will say, ‘But you can’t get raped as a sex worker.’ Then it’s worse if you are a migrant sex worker. Especially if you don’t have papers. You are treated extremely badly.”

Amanda is a street-based sex worker and says that some days are financially better than others. She can earn as much as R1500 on a good day and as little as R50 on a bad one.

She also talks about the prevalence of agism in the sector. “The younger girls – 18 and 19 – can charge a higher price. The client will rather go to them for services, so we have to lower our prices. Business has been really affected by this.”

Amanda hopes that the police will understand that sex work is work, and that sex workers are entitled to protection, instead of further threats of violence. She also hopes that nurses will see past their stigma and provide necessary services to sex workers, who are often too scared to go to clinics for basic healthcare services.

The principles of mathematics underpin problemsolving, decision-making, and innovation across every industry. Finance professionals use mathematics to model investments, analyse risk, and calculate interest. Engineers rely on calculus and algebra for designing structures and optimising systems. In healthcare, mathematics ensures accurate dosages, enables imaging to be interpreted, and underpins epidemiology; a lot of mathematics went into understanding how the SARS-COV-2 virus spreads and how it might be contained. Manufacturing applies geometry for quality control and product design, while retail and hospitality use arithmetic for cost management and inventory control. Creative fields including graphic design and gaming use geometry and transformations for functional designs. Beyond utility, mathematics also reveals beauty and joy through patterns, puzzles, and abstract elegance.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies transform global and local workplaces, mathematics education becomes increasingly vital. Core areas such as linear algebra, calculus, probability, and statistics drive AI algorithms, enabling data analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive modelling. Discrete mathematics underpins coding and data structures. Mathematics is needed both to use and critique AI. Beyond AI, mathematics cultivates critical thinking and problem-solving – skills that are essential in an automated world.

PEDAGOGY PROBLEMS

Despite the importance of mathematics, South African learners do not do well in the subject, putting in poor performances in national and international assessments. The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS, 2023) shows that South African Grade 5 learners ranked last out of 58 countries, and Grade 9 learners were fifth from the bottom. There are many possible explanations for our poor performance, including under-resourced schools and classrooms, difficulties with the language of learning, teaching and assessment, and an overcrowded curriculum, with little time and space for exploring important mathematical concepts.

A key challenge is pedagogy – how mathematics is taught. In many South African schools, mathematics is presented as a set of rules and procedures, which removes learners from its deeper meaning and relevance. Research shows that this approach can lead to frustration and anxiety. Learners engage better when mathematics is seen as something creative, collaborative, and that accelerates problem-solving.

VALUE EFFORT, NOT ABILITY

For substantial change to occur, learners should experience mathematics conceptually, with meaning, and by being able to apply the skills of collaboration, inquiry, and problem-solving.

Classrooms in which teachers respect and value learners and believe that effort – not ability – leads to success, foster positive outcomes. When learners appreciate the importance of effort in success, they are better prepared for their futures, as perseverance and resilience play a key role in today’s work environment, which is marked by rapid technological changes.

Despite the discouraging results from the TIMSS and other studies, it is essential for us as educators to remember that all learners have the ability to do mathematics. Our role is to transmit the beauty and utility of the subject, rather than just teaching rules to be followed. By re-imagining how mathematics is taught and valued, we can transform South Africa’s education landscape. This change will not only prepare learners for standardised tests but also equip them for meaningful participation in the real world.

Teaching The Teachers

However, many South African teachers are not trained to teach mathematics in a meaningful way. An overcrowded curriculum, and mostly procedural assessments, do not help. Having experienced many years of rote learning and “chalk-and-talk” approaches as learners, teachers carry these practices into their own teaching.

Research suggests that without actively engaging with new pedagogies during training, pre-service teachers may dismiss new ideas as irrelevant and replicate the teaching methods that they experienced.

Finding Meaning In Mathematics

In the Wits School of Education, we work with our preservice students to develop mathematics pedagogies with a strong focus on pedagogical reasoning. In their classes, they learn mathematics conceptually and deeply and are encouraged to think about what the mathematics means. In their methodology classes, they think about how learners might engage with the subject, and how to create tasks that support learners to develop conceptual understanding. An online programme: Teacher Choices in Action (TCiA) teaches them how to observe classrooms carefully, helping them to interrogate prior beliefs shaped by their experiences as learners, and to think about what today’s learners need to learn as they move into the future. We also work with in-service teachers, supporting them to think about the mathematics that they are teaching and how learners are receiving it. This work has enabled a number of current teachers to shift their practices. All of our work is informed by the research we do – research based in South African classrooms and focused on meaningful mathematics, on critical thinking and problemsolving, and on caring for all learners, as students of mathematics.

Mathematics is crucial across industries and despite digital and technological advances, its role is ever more important. To counter South Africa’s challenges in the mathematics classroom, including poor performance in international assessments, initiatives in the Wits School of Education are improving teacher training and promoting problem-solving approaches, offering solutions for a more effective and inclusive mathematics education system. C

Zaheera Jina Asvat lectures

Mathematics Education in the Wits School of Education. Her research focuses on identity, agency, and belonging within education and society, as well as mathematics pre-service teacher development and teachers’ mathematical identities.

Karin Brodie is a Professor in the Wits School of Education. She researches mathematics teacher development, professional learning communities, mathematics clubs and learners’ mathematical identities.

Aarifah Gardee lectures

Mathematics Education in the Wits School of Education. She researches learners’ mathematical identities in secondary schools and how they are shaped by classroom contexts.