Understanding the Narratives of Venezuelan Women Who Do Sex Work in Colombia: Drivers, Journeys, and Economic Integration

Abstract

This thesis documents the life stories of ten female Venezuelan migrants who do sex work in Colombia and provides an exploration of how factors at global, regional and community levels interact with individual agency in shaping their migratory processes from and subsequent entry into the sex industry. The thesis makes an original contribution by producing data on the under-researched group of Venezuelan migrant women in the sex industry and also by situating their narratives at the intersection of gender, development and migration studies. The thesis utilises a biographical approach to collect and present the data because it contends that migration and entry into sex work are not discrete actions but rather embedded in people's lives. First, the thesis explores what drove the participants to migrate. Then, it will analyse how they migrated and why most participants journeyed through unauthorised routes. Lastly, it delves into their economic integration in Colombia. Findings suggest that while current debates on Venezuelan migration and migrant sex workers have mostly conceptualised these groups through a dichotomy of either forced or voluntary, the participants' experiences both as Venezuelan migrants and as migrant sex workers could be better explained through multiple continua between the structural forces that constrain them and the ways in which they exercise agency in these different stages.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Rosemary Broad (Supervisor) & Julia Buxton (Supervisor)