For pleasure and profit:Sex Work in Zambia,c.1880-1964

This study reconstructs the history of prostitution in colonial Zambia from about 1880 to 1964. It examines the factors that influenced the development and spread of sex
work. The study discusses prostitution in the context of the changing political economy
and argues that the changes in this area influenced the development of prostitution and also affected the methods of practising sex work.Efforts to eradicate prostitution are also examined. The study discusses the gender dynamics of sex work by demonstrating that whenever efforts to curb sex work were
made unmarried women, whether confirmed to be involved in prostitution or not, were
subjected to repatriation from urban centres.
The dissertation also analyses the possible benefits of sex work. Evidence suggests that
unmarried male adults sometimes used the sexual services of prostitutes as a means of
survival in a difficult economic and social environment. It also reviews the
contradictions that existed between colonial government and the mining companies on
the Copperbelt over sex work. The government wanted to prohibit prostitution by
repatriating unmarried women from industrial centres while mining companies opted to
tolerate the presence of such women in order to stabilise its labour force. The study
further examines the profits made out of sex work by prostitutes