Freeset, India

Freeset is a social purpose business based in Calcutta’s notorious Sonagachi red light district. This group employs 80 women who were formerly working in the sex trade - most had been trafficked as children. They also employ teenage daughters of women involved in the sex trade to prevent them from being forced into prostitution.

Our Indian partners tell us that prostitution is one of the few industries where a person’s earning-power decreases with experience. Young girls (9-13) fetch the highest prices in the first three years of their captivity. The older women (20-30) have no choice but to perform more degrading and dangerous sexual acts in order to attract clients, and they almost always have children to support at that point. By the time they are in their 30s, women are often too ill to entertain their clients at all, and often sleep thrown out of brothels to literally sleep on the sidewalks.

But, with Freeset’s help, these women of Sonagachi are learning that they have value other than their bodies. They are treated with respect and kindness for the first time in their lives, as well as receiving a good living wage. It doesn’t get any better than that!