Sex workers join International Women's Day action with strike in protest at working conditions

British sex workers are set to strike on International Women’s Day to call for decriminalisation and protest against working conditions.

The strike, which is open to all genders, is set to take place in London’s Leicester Square on Friday evening as part of wider action to mark International Women’s Day.

Sex workers argue that decriminalising the industry would give them workers’ rights and help make it safer for them.

While sex work is legal in the UK, related activities such as soliciting in a public place, loitering, owning or managing a brothel, procuring and pandering are all illegal – which sex workers argue makes it dangerous for them to try to earn a living.

Molly Smith, sex worker and author of Revolting Prostitutes, told Red Pepper magazine: “I’m striking because criminalisation prevents us from access to basic labour rights and safety. We are forced to work alone or risk arrest.

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“The criminalisation of sex work is one of the many ways in which patriarchy and capitalism conspire to exploit all women’s labour, whether we’re working in the home, the office or the brothel.

“Sex workers and other feminists are on strike to demand that society value women’s work and women’s safety.”