JBS Vol 25. Num 2. 2023. Article 2 - Exploring the Nexus of Exclusion, Capability, and Vulnerability of Sex Workers’ Children in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Sex trade is widely infamous for being exploitative. It predominantly victimizes women, commonly known as “prostitutes,” “sex workers,” “fallen,” and “untouchables.” Yet there is another group equally persecuted – the offsprings of sex workers who are often overlooked in scholarly investigation on sex work. This research provides a glimpse into the lives of some of these children, who reside and are being taken care of at a shelter home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in order to analyze their vulnerabilities in the face of continued social exclusion. To do so, this research followed a qualitative method that incorporates the Capability Approach by Sen and the Asset Vulnerability Framework by Moser. In light of these frameworks, this study depicts the effects of social exclusion on human capabilities that further increase child-vulnerability. Although they are passionate to materialize their dream of becoming capable adults with proper human dignity, the discriminatory sociocultural system in which they are located does not yet allow them to be integrated into the mainstream and raises questions over their identity, an identity to which they are not yet entitled. Such exclusionary experiences prevent these children from achieving and nourishing their capabilities, and in turn, negatively affect their wellbeing.