Amid growing unemployment rates, Burmese women turn to prostitution to survive

Thu 11 Mar 2010, Nai Marn, Asah
Sources report that prostituion is a rapidly growing problem in Burma's major cities, as rising unemployment rates are forcing Burmese women to work the streets as a means of feeding themselves and thier families.

Prostituion is a particular problem among migrants from Upper Burma, many of whom traveled to urban areas in order to find employment. Far away from home, and unable to find work in the county's competetive job market, migrant women turn to prostitution as a means of survival. And as levels of migrants seeking to escape the problems plaguing Upper Burma's dry agricultural region rise, so too does the number of women making thier incomes through prositution.

According to a resident living in Tamwe Township in Rangoon, women from a variety of regions outside Rangoon live in Tamwe Township; he claimed that every night, large numbers of these women can be seen trolling the main streets between the hours of 7 and 10 pm, when the government-imposed curfew begins including some quarter at Rangoon, during the night time around 7 PM to 10 PM.

"We have been seening many women were walking along the main street during night time. If a man came and called one of them, she would follow this man and go to another place [with him]. But after 10 PM, we don't see them anymore," he informed IMNA.

«This is a hopeless life, and it is because because unemployment is growing among them [Upper Burmese migrant women]», he claimed .

A woman who works at at massage parlour in Rangoon explained to IMNA that the majority of the women who work the city's restaurant's, night clubs, and massage parlours are originally from areas outside the city. She reported that while such institutions are not exactly brothels persen, they encourage prostitution due to the clientel they draw and the low wages they give their workers, who are often forced to sell their bodies to recieve the «tips» they need to supplement their meager incomes.

"I can see that there are women from many different places here. I have been working in this shop for two years. At this shop, one session lasts for one hour. A session costs 3000 kayt, but I only get 500 kayt each time. 2500 kayt, I have to pay to the shop owner. They [the shop owners] give me 30,000 kayt per month. Depending on the guest, if they give me a tip, I can get bonus money.»

The residents of Moulmein city, the capital of Mon State, are noticing a similar trend among the city's female population, and and sources claim that prostitutes are becoming a more noticable and established group of the city's population.

"As I can see, mostly prostitutes live around the railway station at Thirimyine, and in Zayarkyikoung quarter in Moulmein. They are quite young , maybe 25 years old. They often combine into groups of 5 people and rent a flat for living in. Why I know about them is because they have been coming to my clinic and buying some of my cough medicine, about 30 to 40 doses between all of them. They frequently come and buy it."

A youth in Moulmein told IMNA that many of the women who now work in Moulmein's restaurants and message parlours are also primarily from Upper Burma, and that, like in Rangoon, many have been forced into working as prostituties due to the lack of steady emplymen in the city.

The Moulmein-based doctor told IMNA that the trend, ulitmately, is the result of the tradtional roles occupied by women in many areas of Burma; many never recieve the education or job experience needed for legitimate employment, and as such are have few options available to them in times of financial need.

«There are many problems that have been seen, and many bad situations have been affecting the women who work in Burma. As we can see ,they live without jobs after thier weddings, and so they have many kinds of problems getting enought income for their families. Which it why some of women's lives are destroyed and they are turning to lives as prostitutes.