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Women in the poorest of Fiji’s community have had to resort to prostitution to support their families, says Fiji Women’s Crisis Center director Shamima Ali.
And she says these incidents have been happening around the country for some time now.
Ali was responding to an AusAID-funded study by leading Fiji economist Dr Wadan Narsey which noted that women in Fiji are suffering financially.
She said that surprisingly prostitution has become more prevalent in recent years.
“…we have found girls who are still in high school making money this way either for the family or for themselves.
“The economic situation in the so-called slums is such that this easy way of making money is more than acceptable.”
She said such situations are common in squatter settlements around the greater Suva area.
According to the study, which focused on gender issues arising out of the Fiji 2004-05 Employment and Unemployment Survey, women suffer financially for the domestic and caring work they do.
One example given in the study is that economically active women work over 30 per cent more hours a week than men in total, but receive only 81 per cent of the total income.
