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ABSTRACT
Drawing from thematic analysis of qualitative data from 27 in-depth interviews with cisgender women street-based sex workers recruited through snowball sampling in Uyo, Nigeria, this article explores structural inequities, HIV vulnerability and women’s agency. Structural and gendered inequities influenced women’s decision to enter street-based sex work and created conditions that facilitated substance use and increased vulnerability to violence, unprotected sex and HIV transmission. Although women’s agency and creative negotiation of structural forces offered possibilities for increased choices, their routine coping strategies ultimately posed as sources of risks. Women’s socio-legal position constrained their choices, and this highlights how structural vulnerability is embodied as everyday survival strategies that shape exposure to harm and poor health. Findings indicate a need for policy shift towards decriminalisation of sex work and structural HIV interventions, economic empowerment measures to alleviate poverty and substance use treatment and trauma management services to improve the health and well-being of women involved in street-based sex work.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the women who participated in this study for allowing me to document their stories. I also want to thank Unyime Dennis for his editorial inputs. The Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) provided institutional support for the study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).