I want to touch the sky: how an enterprise challenges stigma for sex‐workers

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a “just” enterprise can challenge stigma deeply embedded in culture and in the process develop and prevent a whole new generation of women, in this case the daughters and grand‐daughters of sex‐workers, from being stigmatized.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on fieldwork interviews this paper, through appreciative inquiry analyses and most significant change questioning, examines the development of an Indian based enterprise called Freeset, a company employing women leaving sex work, and examines its history and its possible future trajectory. Freeset challenges the stigma of these Indian sex‐workers, including that perpetuated through patriarchy, by offering alternative work which displays respect for their abilities and dreams and up‐skills them to function as leaders in their communities.FindingsWhile stigma erodes social status by discounting and discrediting persons considered outside the norm, it is possible to challenge that process and change the life trajectory of its victims.Research limitations/implicationsHearing and highlighting the voice of the stigmatized is vital in clarifying a holistic view of stigma and its impact on society.Practical implicationsThere are significant insights into how values based enterprises might establish their ethos in cultures that discount those values the enterprise upholds.Originality/valueFew enterprises focused on producing social change outcomes develop sustainable business practices that challenge the economic root causes of stigma. Freeset provides new insights into managing diversity issues in a South Asian context to achieve that goal.

Navratna – the nine gems

“…For South Asian women, patriarchy is embedded deeply within many of its cultures as a part of a complex mix of religion, caste and gender issues with an overlay of colonialism (Jackson, 2010). Yet, “women, by birthing and socialising children, give continuity and shape to tradition, so “control” over women might be seen as desirable in order to preserve communal purity particularly in caste based- or socially stratified- communities” (Kilpatrick and Pio, 2013, p. 3). Women who did not readily conform to those cultural norms within those societies were often stigmatised (Chitnis, 2005).…”

Transnational feminist perspectives on women’s education, work, and leadership.

“…There are continuities-for instance, transnational feminist psychology linked to education can be feminism as radical praxis (Mohanty & Alexander, 2010), which ruptures narratives of inferiority, deficiency discourses of underachievement, poverty, and pathology linked to minority individuals. There is a surge toward research that is accountable and responsible through the various boundaries of nation-states (Kilpatrick & Pio, 2013;Okpalaoka & Dillard, 2012;Pio & Graham, 2018) and reciprocal dialogue with critical counterpoints through differently positioned feminists (Conway, 2017). The use of critical race theory and intersectionality along with perspectives from transnational feminist psychology can make the invisible visible in higher education to highlight the complex interdependent relationships between ethnicity, gender, and class resulting in achievement gaps (López, Erwin, Binder, & Chavez, 2018).…”

Rediscovering “Anekta mein ekta” or “kasrat mein wahdat”

“…Stigma erosion of sex-workers through the setting up of an enterprise Freeset for Indian sex-workers is discussed by Kilpatrick and Pio (2013) in their paper "I want to touch the sky: How an enterprise challenges stigma for sex-workers". Drawing on fieldwork interviews, this paper through appreciative inquiry analyses and most significant change questioning examines the development of an Indian based enterprise called Freeset, a company employing women leaving sex work, and examines its history and possible future trajectory.…”