Female Sex Workers in the City of Bogotá: From Stigma to Empowerment: Winning project of the international MA students contest on ‘women empowerment for development’

Female sex workers (FSWs) in Bogotá, Colombia experience stigmatization due to their work, which results in a violation of basic human rights. The article describes the social challenges and violations faced by this group due to different types of stigma present in Colombian society and discusses current political debates around the legality of sex work. It proposes that through empowering these women using a participatory approach and giving them access to technology such as photography and video, empathy can be mobilized and can reduce the barriers that FSWs and their children are facing. By raising awareness of the problem of stigmatization, it becomes possible to effect change on a political level through critical social inclusion praxis. The article begins by analyzing different stigmas that exist in Colombian society and the problems that result from such stigmas, before offering a review of social initiatives and proposing a project outline and policy options using participatory methods.