Area (2008) 40.

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Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Poverty, migration and sex work: youth transitions in Ethiopia

Lorraine van Blerk

Department of Geography, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, The University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AB Email: l.c.vanblerk@reading.ac.uk Revised manuscript received 6 November 2007 Despite an emerging body of work on youth transitions, research has yet to explore the often unconventional routes to adulthood for young people marginalised through poverty. By drawing on interviews with 60 young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia, this paper explores the connections between poverty, migration and sex work and demonstrates that sex work provides a risky alternative, but often successful, path to independence for some ruralurban migrants. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for policies that seek to support young sex workers by enabling them to maintain their independence while seeking different employment. Key words: Ethiopia, sex work, ruralurban migration, youth transitions, young people

Introduction
Valentines (2003) recent call for more research to be conducted on youth transitions has highlighted a gap in the work exploring young lives currently undertaken by geographers. Although there is an emerging body of work that now recognises transitions to adulthood as a series of boundaries that young people cross at varying points, such as leaving home, starting employment, cohabitation and having a family, rather than a singular fixed stage (Hopkins 2006; Jones and Wallace 1992; McDowell 2002), little research has focused on unconventional forms of transition. While the nature and experience of these transitions are likely to vary according to various markers of social difference (Hopkins 2006, 241), transitions to adulthood for marginalised young people have been relatively ignored within geographical research (Valentine 2003). Therefore, the motivation for this paper, which seeks to explore the processes that result in teenage girls migrating for the purposes of sex work in Ethiopia, is drawn from addressing two shortfalls in the literature on youth transitions.

First, despite a growing interest in young peoples transitions to work through paid employment in the West (Bowlby et al. 1998; McDowell 2002), Valentine (2003) points out that research has little considered such transitions for young people in marginal situations to also include under/unemployment (and as I argue here (illegal) informal employment). In addition, transitions to work tend to focus on Western labour markets with the experiences of young people in non-Western contexts largely ignored (notable exceptions include Ansell (2004) and Punch (2004)). This is particularly important given the very different timescales for transitions to work in non-Western, as compared to Western contexts. For example, in the West extended tertiary education has postponed work transitions for many young people, yet in the majority of African societies, Ethiopia included, young people living in poverty are likely to experience transitions to work at an earlier age and more likely to work in the informal (and illegal) sector(s). This paper aims to contribute towards filling this gap by discussing sex work in Ethiopia as a legitimate (yet risky) path to independence.

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246 van Blerk Second, geographical research has recently moved beyond an exploration of young peoples lives as static, with a plethora of studies considering the ways in which children and youth develop connections across space (Jennings et al. 2006). Young people are now seen as migrants in their own right, often acting as the motivation for moving or moving independently from their families (Dobson and Stillwell 2000; McKendrick 2001; Waters 2002; Young 2004). This latter point is particularly pertinent for the context of sex workers in Ethiopia as migration away from the family home is an important aspect for many of their ability to engage in this type of work. Although it should be noted that not all girls migrate to engage in sex work, most do. Hoot et al. (2006) found that almost 60 per cent of the sex workers participating in their research were rural migrants. Therefore, the paper aims to further understanding of youth transitions by discussing leaving home through independent migration as part of the transition to adulthood. Drawing on this framework, the research discussed here focuses on the specific circumstances that result in teenage girls engaging in sex work. In particular, the paper explores three ways in which poverty and migration can form the context for girls transitions to adulthood as they move into the city from rural areas in search of employment. First of all, there is a lack of available employment for girls with low levels of education (generally a by-product of growing up in poverty), resulting in options such as domestic service, petty trading or shop work. The attractiveness of securing a job in the city has resulted in girls being enticed to urban areas by glamorous lifestyles or stories of employment, particularly in the coffee board,1 which ultimately results in engaging in sex work. For others, the traditional cultural practices in some rural areas, including female circumcision, abduction and early marriage (which may also result in failed marriages), have resulted in ruralurban migration in an attempt to achieve autonomy. Third, girls engage in ruralurban migration to participate in sex work attracted by the glamorous appearance of those already working and the ability to earn a living, however meagre. The paper concludes by considering the implications of poverty as a catalyst for such routes into sex work as a part of young peoples transitions to adulthood, and ends with strategies for improving policy. young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia. The research took place in two cities in Ethiopia with relatively large transient populations: Addis Ababa, the capital city and Nazareth, the regional capital for Oromia district and a major entertainment centre located on the trade route between the capital and the port at Djibouti. The research was conducted in these sites to access a range of sex work occupations for teenage girls as this varies between places. For example, more young sex workers were engaging in bar work in Nazareth, while in Addis Ababa more worked as streetwalkers. Sixty girls, who were currently engaged in commercial sex2 as part of their work, participated in this research. All were deeply affected by poverty; they commanded little money from clients and generally worked in poor neighbourhoods and in the small local bars and Tella /Tej 3 houses. The girls were aged between 14 and 19 years (with a mean age of 17 years). The length of time they had been engaged in sex work varied widely from a few months to several years, although none had begun their employment below the age of 13. Approximately 22 per cent (13 participants) were drawn from redlight areas, 37 per cent (22 participants) worked as streetwalkers and 41 per cent (25 participants) worked in bars.4 These categorisations are loosely applied and include variations in the work. For example, streetwalkers include those girls who walk the streets and those who stand at particular sites for accessing clients, while bar workers include those who work in small drinking places as well as larger bars in poor neighbourhoods and red-light workers include those who work from brothels or small rooms with or without red lights. It is not the intention here to discuss in detail different types of sex work, merely to demonstrate that although this paper draws on the collective experiences of young sex workers to illustrate their transitions to adulthood, these can occur through a diversity of sex work occupations. The girls were mainly accessed through NGO drop-in centres, although a snowballing technique was also employed to reach those who did not attend projects who were then invited to participate in the research. Previous pilot investigations with the girls enabled their ideas to be included and highlighted their willingness to participate in the research. To overcome problems of language and cultural interpretation, I worked closely with a local translator and to reduce any bias due to my positionality as a foreign researcher I spent considerable time with the girls at the NGO centres to develop rapport. I also employed a variety of qualitative methods where

The research
The research discussed in this paper is drawn from a larger project exploring the socio-spatial lives of

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Poverty, migration and sex work 247 my presence was minimal including discussions, mapping and photo diaries (see also Young and Barrett 2001). This combination of methods was useful for triangulation purposes and also followed up with semi-structured interviews to elicit more detailed information about the girls lives. The information contained in this paper was mainly drawn from the semi-structured interviews exploring reasons why the girls engaged in sex work and the processes through which they had become involved. situations of poverty where limited access to education and resources results in reduced opportunities. In many instances this is accelerating the speed at which young people move rapidly into employment or out of the parental home (Ansell 2004). Therefore, the opportunities available to young people seeking to establish autonomy and provide support for their families can be extremely limited (Punch 2002). This is particularly problematic for girls. For example, in South-East Asia, Camacho (1999) and Lauby and Stark (1998) both highlight that teenage girls migrate to cities seeking low-paid domestic or factory work. Despite the low wages earned, such migrations are considered successful transitions to adulthood, as young people are able to provide support to family members remaining in the rural areas. However, Silvey (2001) demonstrates that this is a precarious balance as girls who sought employment in Indonesias factories found themselves unemployed due to the critical impact of wider economic processes on the collapse of factory employment. This mainly resulted in rural-return migration and can be viewed as failed transitions. Some of Silveys participants chose to engage in prostitution rather than return to the village which could also be considered a failed transition. However, in this paper I argue that instead of seeing sex work, and similar unconventional approaches to transition, as failure, they can demonstrate aspects of successful transition to adulthood despite their problematic, and sometimes exploitative, nature.

Youth transitions: linking poverty, migration and sex work

Migration for work is commonplace in the South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (Englund 2002; Townsend 1997; van Blerk and Ansell 2006). In many rural contexts young people frequently engage in migration for work purposes, which is synonymous with transitions to adulthood as young people take on responsibilities of providing for themselves and their families from as young as 13 or 14 years old (Punch 2002). However, the connection between ruralurban migration and access to employment is rather simplistic and requires greater contextualisation. Research has demonstrated the importance of context for understanding migration decisions, calling for migration research to be socially and culturally informed (Findlay and Li 1999; Lawson 2000), particularly as the context of young peoples migration varies widely across cultures and situations. In the South, young people often make their own migration decisions and may engage in migration alone (Camacho 1999; Lauby and Stark 1998; Silvey 2001). Research has confirmed that childrens migration is more often related to negative impacts on community and family life such as a lack of resources, war and the AIDS pandemic (Young 2004; van Blerk and Ansell 2006). Given that poverty underlies many of these migration decisions, it is not surprising that this is one avenue through which young people enter the labour market. In addition, dissatisfaction with traditional rural ways of life through access to global youth cultures (Massey 1998), and the impact of neoliberal and social reform policies on the ability to sustain rural livelihoods (Jeffery and McDowell 2004), has added to migration as one aspect of transition. The transitions from childhood to adulthood, encompassing employment and independent family life, are particularly problematic for those living in

The Ethiopian context

Historically women have played an important role in Ethiopian life, being particularly instrumental in the household economy engaging in agriculture, trade and domestic activities (Pankhurst 1990). Traditionally, and generally still the case in rural areas, women were principally in charge of fetching wood and water, childrearing, the cooking and preparation of food including milling, which is an especially arduous task, spinning cotton for clothing and preparing dung for fuel (Pankhurst 1990 1992). However, through the sexual division of labour, the lower position of women can be noted. Taking clothmaking as an example, women are involved in the more mundane and arduous tasks in the preparatory phase of processes such as spinning, while men take on skilled tasks in the final stages of production such as weaving (Pankhurst 1990). Added to this, rural girls make some transitions to adulthood early in their teenage years, often marrying for the first

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248 van Blerk time at around 14 or 15 years, generally to older men. Polygamous marriages, ceremonial marriages arranged by parents, high divorce rates and the ease at which a man can divorce his wife (for reasons including disobedience, barrenness, challenging male authority and not keeping the house properly) also make the position of females precarious (Pankhurst 1992). In some cases Telfa (marriage through abduction)5 remains. For some, household poverty and negative associations of rural living for young women has resulted in transitions to adulthood occurring along alternative paths. Cultural practices such as female circumcision and early marriage coupled with the increasing reliance on a cash economy and the infiltration of global youth cultures has created disillusionment with rural living, particularly for those living in poverty. An alternative route has emerged where some girls now seek to support their families and themselves through paid work, resulting in migration to urban areas. Given the position of women in the household economy, it is not surprising that their education levels are lower when compared to men. In 2000, 84 per cent of rural women had no education compared with only 67 per cent of men (Central Statistical Authority (Ethiopia) 2001). Taken together, this means that women have much less opportunity to enter into formal employment, with poor women generally restricted to domestic work or informal employment including prostitution and, as Cherkosie (2000) points out, the majority of young commercial sex workers are rural migrants. The remainder of this paper focuses on the ways in which girls enter into sex work through migrating into urban areas and discusses what this means for their transitions to adulthood. from traditional cultural practices; failed marriages; pregnancy and the associated stigma of having sex outside marriage; the attraction of paid work to support their families; and the glamorous lifestyle friends and relatives had already achieved working in urban centres.

Earning a living: accessing financial support in the city

For most girls in rural areas migration accompanies the search for employment, as low educational attainment and lack of opportunities means girls have to leave home to enter into the labour market. On arrival in the cities, the opportunities available to these girls are generally limited to informal work such as a housemaid, coffee shop assistant or bar girl (the latter two occupations being unpaid and often an entry into sex work). Brokers/friends who work at the bus stations provide entry into paid work for many girls, befriending them as soon as they arrive in the city. As Berhane6 describes, such an encounter provided her route into sex work.
I came by bus to Addis Ababa looking for a job. At the bus station I met a girl who said she could find me a job babysitting. She took me to her room and her friends gave me clothes and eyeliner. They told me to stand outside and a man came to talk to me. That is how I started to do business.7 (Berhane, aged 16, Addis Ababa)

Paths to sex work in Ethiopia

The transition to adulthood begins early for poor rural girls growing up in Ethiopia. They are generally excluded from secondary education by their parents ability to pay and required to contribute to the household from an early age. In addition, early marriage results in most girls beginning their transition to adulthood around 14 years of age. However, for many girls this transition also encompasses paid employment, generally resulting in them leaving home and migrating to larger urban centres. The girls in this study stated that their decisions to migrate were based on a number of factors, including escape

Not all girls immediately begin sex work and attempt to support themselves through work as a maid. The girls who had chosen this occupation and later entered into sex work talked of difficult working conditions and occasionally abuse from their employer, resulting in their decision to leave. As Genet points out, working as a maid is arduous and the hours are long. Often girls do not receive any payment for their labour, only food and a place to sleep. Similarly, Beti found working as a maid difficult, this time because of the abusive working conditions resulting in her transfer to sex work. Therefore many girls, like Hanna, choose sex work as an alternative means for supporting themselves independently.
I came to work as a maid but the work was very hard and I did not earn any money. When I got to Nazareth I saw the girls working in the bars and then decided that I could also make money working in bars. (Genet, aged 17, Nazareth) I started working as a maid but I couldnt stand the constant nagging and hitting by the owners so I

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decided to do business, as this is better than being a maid. (Beti, aged 16, Nazareth) I thought doing business is better than working as a maid as I can make money and improve my life condition. (Hanna, aged 17, Nazareth)

particular issue which brought shame on the household. Both Zenash and Genet were disowned by their guardians for developing relationships with young men in their village.
I came here because I became a bad girl (had sex outside marriage) and my family disowned me. I do business to support myself. (Genet, aged 17, Addis Ababa) The lady that looked after me began to hear rumours about my relationships with boys. She changed towards me and I had to leave. I now do business to support myself and I rent my own room. (Zenash, aged 18, Addis Ababa)

A second, and unexpected, path to sex work is achieved through joining the coffee board and the attraction of the glamorous city life this offers. A number of girls talked of how they had come to the city with a friend, relative or other known person from their village that had returned for a visit. These visitors were generally well dressed and talked of great opportunities in the city. In particular, they promised newcomers jobs in the coffee board, where they can earn high salaries. Poor rural girls are attracted by these stories and they, or their families, agreed that the girl should accompany the friend/relative back to the city, as Tasikawa explains below. However, in some cases, such as that highlighted by Shewa, the experience is particularly traumatic.
I was suffering a lot at home and my friend who was a prostitute told me about working for the coffee board. I collected my clothes and left home with her but when I got here I realised that I had to engage in business. (Tasikawa, aged 17, Addis Ababa) I came from Gondor. I came to Addis Ababa to find a job in the coffee board and help my family. The man who brought me here intended to make me blind and use me for begging so I managed to escape. In the streets I was raped so now I engage in business to support myself. (Shewa, aged 17, Addis Ababa)

Girls also mentioned escaping to the city to avoid marrying someone they did not want to marry or because such an arranged marriage had broken down. Kalkidan mentions that she entered sex work to avoid an arranged marriage. For girls in this situation, similar to that in Silveys (2001) work, migration for employment is an acceptable, although less desirable, alternative to marriage as a transition to adulthood.
I come from Debrezeit. When I lived there I did not know about men or sex but my family arranged for me to marry a man I did not know so I left. I am doing bar work now and I am able to rent my own home and support myself. I also send money to help my younger brothers. (Kalkidan, aged 18, Nazareth)

For others, their recruitment is undertaken by the bar owners themselves. As, in Frewits experience, a bar owner came to her village and offered her a job:
The other girls who did business influenced me. Once a lady came to our village and promised me a job. She had nice clothes and shoes and I also wanted to improve my life condition so I came to Addis with her. She owned a bar and taught me to work there and to engage in business. (Frewit, aged 16, Nazareth)

The third path to sex work highlighted in the research relates to escaping from traditional practices and codes of conduct that predominate in rural areas. This set of girls left home to avoid traditional practices including early marriage, and in some cases female circumcision, and were now engaging in sex work. In addition, relationships with boys were a

The failure to secure formal employment on arrival in the city (and even the inability to sustain working as a maid) could be viewed as failed transitions to work. Poverty and low educational attainment has resulted in a lack of opportunities available to the girls and has restricted their ability to have successful transitions to adulthood through employment, despite engaging in migration as a strategy to access more prosperous work. The issues facing these girls are akin to the problems that faced working-class youth in Willis (1977) UK study, where pathways to successful employment were hindered by the educational structures in place in schools. McDowell (2003) and Jeffery and McDowell (2004) further demonstrate that youth transitions through employment in the West are still problematic as social and economic inequalities are reinforced in schools. This creates limited opportunities for some young people to find work other than manual or service sector labour. In sub-Saharan Africa, related links have been made, with Ansell (2004) explaining the associations between education and employment for successful youth

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250 van Blerk transitions in Lesotho and Zimbabwe. These links are similarly important in Ethiopia, as Lili explains in the quotation below that access to education is imperative for securing good employment, yet in rural areas such access is highly restricted.
I lived in Gondor. Life is simple there and there is no school I came here to work but without qualifications I can only work in business to support myself. (Lili, aged 17, Nazareth)

Sex work as problematic

Securing employment in sex work through migration to the city is not without problems and the research identified three aspects to sex work that were highlighted as particularly risky: health problems; violence and debt (van Blerk 2007). Health was an issue for the girls and many frequently suffered from opportunistic infections such as colds, chest infections and STDs. The bar girls were also forced to drink alcohol, which frequently left them feeling sick. Most girls were worried about their HIV status and some suspected that they had already contracted the disease (van Blerk 2007). Although they had good knowledge of AIDS, and advocated condom use, they were generally afraid to be tested. A few did know their status. For example, Genet knew her positive status yet continued to work in the red-light district. Rivalry and jealousy among her peers resulted in them telling her clients that she was positive. This resulted in a beating and reduced opportunities to find clients. Even where they are unsure of their status, when they begin to lose weight and fall sick (symptoms often attributed to AIDS) the girls have more difficulty accessing clients, due to the stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS, and this creates financial problems. When sickness is prolonged, the girls are often asked to leave. This happened to Abeba, who suspected she was HIV positive. Her continual sickness meant that she was unable to work and had to leave the bar. Although a friend supported her for a while, Abeba was unable to contribute to the household and left saying she was returning to her rural village. Her friends knew that instead Abeba had moved to another town, where she would not be associated with the bars (and therefore prostitution and HIV) to look for work or to beg on the streets. The girls frequently mentioned facing difficulties in their interactions with clients. Although some girls reported incidences where men had helped them out, given them money without requiring sex

or advised them to leave prostitution, many also reported very negative situations. In particular, this included dealing with drunken or violent clients who insisted on engaging in business on their terms. Most girls also had experience of clients who refused to use condoms or deliberately split condoms either for their own pleasure or because they were angry at their status as STD or HIV carriers. In some instances, the girls mentioned men leaving without paying. These problems were common for all the girls regardless of the means through which they engaged in business.
The men asked us to have sex without a condom or they cut the condom while having sex. (Rita, aged 15, Addis Ababa) Once they have paid, clients sometimes feel superior over us . . . sometimes they take me to a dark place and hit me. (Ada, aged 16, Nazareth)

Sex work is a financially precarious occupation and, as noted above, exacerbates other issues associated with this employment. The girls are sometimes unable to negotiate their pay with violent clients or those that refuse to pay, while when girls are too sick to work they are left without an income. Those working in red-light districts and in bars also find themselves drawn into debt, through borrowing money from the owners when they cannot find work. Such debt often ties the girls to their places of work. The owners are happy to lend them money when they are sick or unable to find work, however, they are not free to leave until all the debt has been paid back, and as Abeba points out the interest on payments can make this difficult. Further, girls accrue debts if they break glasses or if the clients they are serving refuse to pay. In the red-light areas girls who stay with madams usually work for very small fees from which they must pay rent and give half the money to their madam.
In the bars if you borrow money the owner makes you pay back more. (Abeba, aged 18, Nazareth)

The problems the girls encounter and the nature of their occupation means that their lifestyle changes quite radically once involved in sex work. As Kalkidan highlights, their transition to adulthood through employment in sex work results in a negative behaviour change as a method for dealing with the difficulties. Such behaviour would be deemed inappropriate in rural villages and considered shameful.

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Poverty, migration and sex work 251

If I go back home I wouldnt show nice behaviour to my family now as I am addicted to different behaviours. (Kalkidan, aged 18, Nazareth)

can be earned in the rural areas, so remittances can be sent back to help provide basic needs for the family, as Helen and Alem both state:
I come from far and from a very poor family. My mother and I used to sell grains. I came to find work but ended up doing business. I know it cant change my life but it can help me a little and I can help my family. (Helen, aged 16, Nazareth) Before we lived a different life we were so poor. Now I am doing business I can send money home and my family live a better life. (Alem, aged 18, Addis Ababa)

Sex work as successful transitions to adulthood

Despite the problems associated with sex work, a number of the quotations presented earlier in the paper (such as that by Kalkidan, Genet and Zenash) suggest that there are positive aspects of sex work that fulfil transitions to adulthood through employment and averts the common castigation of sex workers as social misfits (Tekola 2005, 169). The girls in this research all mention that sex work has enabled them to support themselves and rent their own accommodation.
My family are poor and cannot buy things for me like clothes and shoes, so to support myself I entered into business. (Abeba, aged 15, Addis Ababa)

Conclusion
This paper has demonstrated that sex work in Ethiopia is a risky occupation and problematic for several reasons. Sex work is part of the (illegal) informal economy and generally frowned upon, and ignored, by mainstream Ethiopian society. This affords the girls working in the industry little protection from the exploitative aspects of their work, particularly their interactions with bar owners and clients. In addition there are few opportunities, outside informal NGO programmes, for the girls to receive education regarding the risks of their employment, which in turn increases their vulnerability to contracting illnesses, particularly AIDS (van Blerk 2007). This can have a detrimental effect on the girls work, making their ability to attract clients precarious and weakening their transition to independence. However, the paper also demonstrates that in spite of these negative consequences, sex work is providing opportunities for young migrants to present successful transitions to adulthood. Sex work not only provides an income, albeit meagre, for the girls to support themselves but also allows them to support their families back in the rural villages. From the Ethiopian context, however, fulfilling a complete transition to adulthood is more than self-support and leaving home. Here transition also involves cohabitation and childbearing. Many of the girls mentioned having steady partnerships and children, whom they supported through their work, illustrating that engaging in sex work offered them opportunities for multiple transitions to adulthood. This complicated dynamic has important implications for policies that seek to develop interventions for young sex workers in Ethiopia. Although there are some NGOs providing much needed services for

Some of the girls had also developed stable relationships and had their own children, which had been enabled by their engagement in sex work, demonstrating that this had also facilitated further transitions to adulthood through cohabitation and raising a family. Briktis story demonstrates this well. She has a stable partner and a young son. Her partner is unemployed and she supports the family through sex work. Although her partner would prefer her not to engage in business, they realise that she is the sole supporter of the family. In addition, poverty has been averted through sex work not only for the girls but also their families. Through their work many girls demonstrated a moral commitment to kin (Tekola 2005) and discussed how they were able to provide support to their families and, as such, had taken on an adult role in the family through their breadwinner status. As Sara and Hanna both highlight in their stories:
I came from Asela. . . . I started business because I believed that by doing business I can improve my life. Before I started business I lived with my grandparents. They were very poor. (Sara, aged 19, Nazareth) Although this life hurts me a lot I am able to support my mother as my father has died. (Hanna, aged 17, Nazareth)

Given this ability to support their relatives, sex work can be viewed as having an empowering aspect. The money earned is generally higher than that which

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252 van Blerk young sex workers, including drop-in centres offering food, washing facilities, informal education, family reunification and counselling (Cherkosie 2000), national policy aims to eradicate sex work, viewing prostitution as a social problem rather than employment (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 1996). Therefore efforts are concentrated on rehabilitating young sex workers and often include returning the girls to the rural areas, where limited opportunities can increase dependence on family members and result in failed transitions to adulthood. I am not suggesting that these programmes are not important for assisting many young women to escape the exploitation that they face in their work. Rather I argue that policy must also consider the positive aspects of sex work as a path to independence and redirect this into alternative forms of employment, whereby the success girls have achieved through their transitions is not lost, but rather harnessed. This could include offering young sex workers more formal education and training to develop new careers and supporting them with housing until they are established. Financial management training and saving schemes would further assist girls to learn how to manage the money they earn so that they are able to save and pay their debts. In addition, rather than returning girls to the rural areas where they are likely to be an additional burden on overstretched families, organisations could establish training centres in those areas most affected by poverty for diversifying livelihood strategies and providing alternatives to early marriage and/or city migration. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that marginalised young people, living in situations of poverty, are seeking alternative ways to engage with transitions to adulthood and take on the responsibilities of helping to support their families. Therefore I suggest that, rather than focus on the detrimental aspects of much (illegal) informal employment such as sex work, policymakers and practitioners have much to learn from young people regarding how to sustain their path to independence. Notes
1 Coffee is one of Ethiopias major export crops and therefore the coffee board is seen as one of the major employers in the city. Sex workers also use working in the coffee board as a pseudonym for their employment. 2 Although it is acknowledged that sex work definitions can be complex, particularly in poor communities where sex may be exchanged for income or other needs at times of hardship, this paper focuses specifically on girls who exchange sex for cash with a variety of (mainly unknown) men as their main source of livelihood. 3 Tella, and also Tej, are locally produced traditional drinks that are sold in small bars often the size of one room. 4 As I will show later in this paper, it was more difficult for red-light workers to participate in the research due to constraints on their mobility, hence the relatively smaller number of participants engaging in this type of sex work. 5 One cultural practice, which still remains in rural Ethiopian Society, is Telfa marriage by abduction. This is often an impulsive decision and the girl or her parents may not have consented. Once a girl has been abducted, she is considered married and her family will not reverse the decision. 6 Pseudonyms are used throughout the text to protect the identity of the participants. 7 Business is the term the girls use to refer to sex work, demonstrating the ideological importance of giving their work status.

References
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by The Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed in this paper are entirely my own. I would like to acknowledge the girls whose lives are discussed in this paper and to thank Abeba Amare for her assistance in the field. I am grateful to two anonymous referees and Alastair Bonnett for constructive comments.

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Area Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 245253, 2008 ISSN 0004-0894 The Author. Journal compilation Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 2008