Forced Prostitution: Unpacking the links between globalisation, neo-liberalism and the illicit sex trade

This talk examines forced prostitution as a form of gender-based violence within and beyond the conflict zone. Drawing on Iraq and Syria, Dr Banwell demonstrates how a lack of employment opportunities caused by conflict, alongside increasing engagement with neo-liberal policies, forces women into the global sex trade. Transnational feminism attributes women’s social, political and economic marginalisation to capitalism, class exploitation, neo-imperialism and neo-liberalism. It also addresses the local and global contexts in which violence against women and girls occurs. The political economy approach broadens what is meant by violence and abuse, seeing forced prostitution – resulting from a lack of employment opportunities – as a form of structural violence. Drawing on both of these perspectives, and focusing on Iraq and Syria, Dr Banwell examines how globalisation and neo-liberalism impact the day-to-day lives of women and girls in war-shattered economies. The talk will conclude with some thoughts on what is being done to address gender-based violence and what measures can be taken to achieve gender equality in post-conflict situations.

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Dr Stacy Banwell is a Principal Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Law at the University of Greenwich. Her research interests include violence against women and girls, rape and sexual violence during war and armed conflict and gender-based violence against conflict-affected populations. In 2014 Stacy conducted empirical research with women who sell sex in the UK as part of a project called: “Decriminalization helps all of us and criminalization harms all of us”: An investigating into the government proposals to reform prostitution laws in England and Wales. Stacy is currently writing a monograph on gender and the violence(s) of war and armed conflict.