Safriz
BANNED
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2010
- Messages
- 20,845
- Reaction score
- -1
- Country
- Location
Michael Holden LONDON | Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:33pm GMT (Reuters) - Desperate British students, faced with rising costs on the
back of government austerity measures, are turning to prostitution,
gambling and other dangerous pursuits to fund their studies, support
workers and student leaders said on Wednesday. The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), a welfare body for sex
workers, said it estimated the number of people approaching it for
help had doubled in the last year as students struggled to make ends
meet. FREE GUIDES AND REPORTS FROM DIANOMI
ADVERTISEMENT Guardian Stockbrokers Trade a wide range of markets, pro charts, open an account in minutes Find out More "(The government) know the cuts and the austerity programmes and
the removing of grants, they know when they remove those resources
they know it drives women further into poverty," Sarah Walker from
the ECP told Reuters. "The way that women survive poverty is often through sex work. The
government knows that and they don't seem to care frankly." Young people have been the hardest hit by economic slowdown with
youth unemployment now accounting for 1.03 million of the 2.64
unemployed, the highest level since 1992. Last year, the government said it would scrap the Educational
Maintenance Allowance, a grant to older teenage schoolchildren to
help them stay in education, and allow university tuition fees to treble
to up to 9,000 pounds a year from 2012. With part-time jobs scarce and the cost of living being squeezed with
rising prices, the National Union of Students (NUS) said young people
were taking desperate and dangerous measures to pay for their
education. DANGEROUS WORK "In some cases that's sex work, but we're also hearing about clinical
trials, gambling ... dangerous work where there's very little, if any kind
of employment rights," said Estelle Hart, the NUS's national women's
officer. "You often hear it's very easy to get a bar job. Well it's not easy to get
a bar job in this economic climate, it's not easy to get any job." A study by researchers at a London university published last year
found 16 percent of students were willing to engage in sex work to
pay for their education and 11 percent would work for escort agencies. Hart said a recent study by Leeds University in northern England
revealed 25 percent of strippers and lap dancers were students. She
said the government had a duty to investigate what effect its changes
and cuts to education budgets were having. The prostitutes collective said women of all ages were affected and
they were working in brothels, as strippers, in lap dancing clubs, and
on sex phone lines. "It's right across the sex industry. With sex work, you can work for
maybe one evening a week and make enough money to cover all your
expenses," Walker said. "It's younger students who are just starting out in university and also
women who are going back trying to get a degree or increase their
skills." She said the scrapping of the EMA allowance had badly hit some
mothers. "When that money is cut, it's the mother who often has to make up for
it," she said. "That is something that is driving women into sex work." The government said it was providing 180 million pounds a year for
the most vulnerable teenagers and that no student had to pay up front
for their studies. "Our reforms will make the system even fairer, with more financial
support and lower monthly repayments once you are in well-paid
work," said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Last year, demonstrations in London against the government plans to
increase tuition fees descended into violence and rioting. In the worst
trouble the car of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife was
attacked by protesters.
back of government austerity measures, are turning to prostitution,
gambling and other dangerous pursuits to fund their studies, support
workers and student leaders said on Wednesday. The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), a welfare body for sex
workers, said it estimated the number of people approaching it for
help had doubled in the last year as students struggled to make ends
meet. FREE GUIDES AND REPORTS FROM DIANOMI
ADVERTISEMENT Guardian Stockbrokers Trade a wide range of markets, pro charts, open an account in minutes Find out More "(The government) know the cuts and the austerity programmes and
the removing of grants, they know when they remove those resources
they know it drives women further into poverty," Sarah Walker from
the ECP told Reuters. "The way that women survive poverty is often through sex work. The
government knows that and they don't seem to care frankly." Young people have been the hardest hit by economic slowdown with
youth unemployment now accounting for 1.03 million of the 2.64
unemployed, the highest level since 1992. Last year, the government said it would scrap the Educational
Maintenance Allowance, a grant to older teenage schoolchildren to
help them stay in education, and allow university tuition fees to treble
to up to 9,000 pounds a year from 2012. With part-time jobs scarce and the cost of living being squeezed with
rising prices, the National Union of Students (NUS) said young people
were taking desperate and dangerous measures to pay for their
education. DANGEROUS WORK "In some cases that's sex work, but we're also hearing about clinical
trials, gambling ... dangerous work where there's very little, if any kind
of employment rights," said Estelle Hart, the NUS's national women's
officer. "You often hear it's very easy to get a bar job. Well it's not easy to get
a bar job in this economic climate, it's not easy to get any job." A study by researchers at a London university published last year
found 16 percent of students were willing to engage in sex work to
pay for their education and 11 percent would work for escort agencies. Hart said a recent study by Leeds University in northern England
revealed 25 percent of strippers and lap dancers were students. She
said the government had a duty to investigate what effect its changes
and cuts to education budgets were having. The prostitutes collective said women of all ages were affected and
they were working in brothels, as strippers, in lap dancing clubs, and
on sex phone lines. "It's right across the sex industry. With sex work, you can work for
maybe one evening a week and make enough money to cover all your
expenses," Walker said. "It's younger students who are just starting out in university and also
women who are going back trying to get a degree or increase their
skills." She said the scrapping of the EMA allowance had badly hit some
mothers. "When that money is cut, it's the mother who often has to make up for
it," she said. "That is something that is driving women into sex work." The government said it was providing 180 million pounds a year for
the most vulnerable teenagers and that no student had to pay up front
for their studies. "Our reforms will make the system even fairer, with more financial
support and lower monthly repayments once you are in well-paid
work," said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Last year, demonstrations in London against the government plans to
increase tuition fees descended into violence and rioting. In the worst
trouble the car of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife was
attacked by protesters.
-
