Should all women be entitled to human rights or just the well behaved ones?

"The Prositution Law Reform Bill will extend human rights protection to all women regardless of occupation, it is up to parliament to decide whether we deserve it." said Jan Logie Executive Director YWCA Aotearoa New Zealand

The Bill will protect those young, and not so young, women who are currently duped into the industry by obscure conversations/interviews at massage parlours.

"We have heard stories of young women going to interviews to be massueses, thinking that was what they would be doing, and the starting the job and finding out that they are expected to provided sexual services." says Jan Logie

"The current reality, created by our laws, means massage parlour owners cannot be upfront about the job. This is not acceptable. If the politicians are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of young women then they need to vote in support of the Bill. We need an environment that will be honest and give women all the information." said Jan Logie

The YWCA does not condone prostitution, and we do not believe that this bill will normalise the sex industry or further put our young women at risk. Most teenage girls are not even sexually active this bill is not going to make them want to go out and have sex with strangers. What it will do is: * ensure those looking for work, know when they're about to enter the sex industry and * protect those who have ended up in the industry from further harm, such as rape, corecian, and poor employment practices. * enable people working with young people to more effectively support those in the industry.

The thousands of NZ women currently working as prostitutes need to know that they can have control of their bodies, and that they matter.

The current law, which a vote against the bill will uphold, criminalises women for selling sex, and ignores the many thousands of men buying sex. (UK research estimates 10% of the male population at some time purchase sex. In Wellington alone this represents @9,000 men.)

"The YWCA believes it is time to seperate morality from the debate, as we did a long time ago with adultery. It is time to privelege care for the marginalised over the sanctity of the body." says Jan Logie

© Scoop Media