title: Looking beyond legality: understanding the context of female sex workers in greater Cairo, Egypt.
abstract: Data on demographic, social and behavioural characteristics of female sex workers in greater Cairo are very scarce. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 431 randomly selected sex workers after mapping of sites where they gather. Data collection was performed by direct interviewing using a questionnaire sheet covering sociodemographic data and sexual history with paying and non-paying partners. More than one half of participants (52.7%) were aged < 30 years. Only 39.3% were exclusively working as sex workers while the rest had other jobs beside sex work. Almost 70% were responsible for deperidants. The age of first selling sex was < 15 years for 4.7% of the women and 15-25 years for 58.7%. Unwanted pregnancies were experienced by 36.2% and 34.8% had had an abortion. Many participants had ever been arrested by the police (71.2%). The study has provided some useful background data for further studies in this very sensitive area of research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tanta, Tanta, Egypt. iakabbash@yahoo.com
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Kabbash
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abdul-Rahman
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Shehata
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004534:Egypt; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D011477:Sex Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060386:Sex Workers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult