Prostitution in Ivory Coast

• "Serpents" - In Abidjan, street walkers are known as "serpents" because of the hissing sounds they make to attract clients. Rue Pierre et Marie Curie in the city's red-light district of Marcory Zone 4 is known locally as "Serpent Street".{{cite web|last1=Duhem|first1=Vincent|title=Avis aux noctambules abidjanais : la Zone 4 est désormais à deux pas… de danse – JeuneAfrique.com|url=http://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/245682/societe/avis-aux-noctambules-abidjanais-la-zone-4-est-desormais-a-deux-pas-de-danse/|website=Jeune Afrique|access-date=8 January 2018|language=fr-FR|date=20 July 2015}}
• "Dioula women" - Younger prostitutes originating from Mali. After a short stint working as prostitutes they usually become traders in local markets.
• "Karoua women" - Older Zarma or Hausa women, usually divorced, from Ghana.
• "Evolue" - These women, from various countries in French West Africa, seek clients in bars and nightclubs.
• "TouTou" - Coming from the British West African states, these women are mainly street prostitutes. The name is derived from 'two shillings, two pence'; a prostitute who doesn't charge much.

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, a form of institutional prostitution known as {{Lang|tw|abrakree}} was prominent among the Southwest Akan of the Gold and Ivory Coasts. The political elite acquired women, usually slaves, to service the sexual needs of the unmarried males. They were initiated by religious rites and their earnings were controlled by the state.{{cite journal | last=Ampofo | first=Akosua Adomako|author-link=Akosua Adomako Ampofo |title=The Sex Trade, Globalisation and Issues of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265142810| journal=Research Review of the Institute of African Studies|volume=17|issue=2 |pages= 27–43| year=2001|doi=10.4314/rrias.v17i2.22906|s2cid=11547603}} After a visit to Assini{{efn|Harley and Ampofo state that Assini was located on the Gold Coast but Acheampong writes that it was located in Ivory Coast.}} in 1701, Jean Barbot documented that the abrakree in Assini distinguished themselves from other women by wearing a cloth of white linen around their head. Married men were forbidden to use their services, and punishment was severe.{{cite book|last1=Harley|first1=Sharon|title=Women's labor in the global economy : speaking in multiple voices|date=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTJK3LjpiLIC&q=severely+punnished|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.]|isbn=978-0813540443|edition=[Online-Ausg.].}}{{cite journal | last= Akyeampong| first=Emmanuel |author-link=Emmanuel K. Akyeampong|title=Sexuality and Prostitution among the Akan of the Gold Coast c. 1650-1950

| journal=Past & Present|volume=156|issue=1 |pages= 144–173 | year=1997|doi=10.1093/PAST/156.1.144|jstor=651181|s2cid=162885284}}

In the 1960s, many French prostitutes came to the country, mainly from Paris and Marseilles. They worked as barmaids at bars and nightclubs, predominately in Abidjan. They charged high fees, but the bar owner took a per-client "air conditioning" commission. Because of the high fees, clients were Europeans or elite Africans.

Ghanaian woman started to migrate to the Ivory Coast to work as prostitutes in the 1970s due to a downturn in the Ghanaian economy.{{cite web|last1=Kessler|first1=Justine L.|title=The Voices of Sex Workers (prostitutes?) and the Dilemma of Feminist Discourse|url=http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1721&context=etd|publisher=University of South Florida|access-date=8 January 2018|date=28 April 2005}} This migration continued, and in the 1990s over half of the prostitutes in Abidjan were from Ghana.{{cite web|last1=Kouame|first1=K|title=[Migration and prostitution in the Abidjan region]|url=https://www.popline.org/node/295915|publisher=Laval University|access-date=8 January 2018|date=1994}}

{{main|HIV/AIDS in Ivory Coast}}

As with other countries in West Africa, Ivory Coast has an HIV epidemic.[http://www.pepfar.gov/pepfar/press/81552.htm "2008 Country Profile: Cote d'Ivoire"]. U.S. Department of State (2008). Sex workers are a high risk group, and condom use was previously not common,{{cite web|last1=Huband|first1=Mark|title=Ivory Coast prostitutes at centre of Aids web - Mark Huband|url=http://www.markhuband.com/ivory-coast-prostitutes-at-centre-of-aids-web/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109235613/http://www.markhuband.com/ivory-coast-prostitutes-at-centre-of-aids-web/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=9 January 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=9 January 2018|date=19 July 1991}} leading to 70% of sex workers in Abidjan being HIV positive in 1995.{{cite web|title=Côte d'Ivoire and HIV/AIDS |url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnacp171.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225030019/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnacp171.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 February 2017| publisher=USAID |access-date=9 January 2018 |date=June 1999}}{{PD-notice}} Aggressive public outreach campaigns and education interventions targeted key high-risk populations, such as sex workers, which brought the infection rate down to 40% in 1998.

Continued campaigns, education, condom distribution and access to better health care brought the HIV prevalence amongst sex workers down to 26.6% in 2011,{{Cite journal|last1=Vuylsteke|first1=Bea|last2=Semdé|first2=Gisèle|last3=Sika|first3=Lazare|last4=Crucitti|first4=Tania|last5=Traoré|first5=Virginie Ettiègne|last6=Buvé|first6=Anne|last7=Laga|first7=Marie|title=HIV and STI Prevalence among Female Sex Workers in Côte d'Ivoire: Why Targeted Prevention Programs Should Be Continued and Strengthened|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=7|issue=3|pages=e32627|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0032627|pmid=22403685|pmc=3293836|date=5 March 2012|bibcode=2012PLoSO...732627V|doi-access=free}} and 11% in 2016.{{cite web |title=HIV prevalence amongst sex workers |url=http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/gam/stock/shared/vc/vcshare.html?id=d9c0ff12-f62c-44e7-8e2c-dbe736bbea30 |website=www.aidsinfoonline.org |publisher=UNAIDS |access-date=22 July 2018 |date=2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722130109/http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/gam/stock/shared/vc/vcshare.html?id=d9c0ff12-f62c-44e7-8e2c-dbe736bbea30 |archive-date=22 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}

{{see also|Human trafficking in Ivory Coast}}

Ivory Coast is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of identified victims are children. Due to a stronger emphasis on monitoring and combating child trafficking within the country, the prevalence of adult trafficking may be under reported. Ivorian women and girls are primarily subjected to forced labor in domestic service and restaurants in Côte d'Ivoire but are also exploited in sex trafficking. Some women and girls recruited from Ghana and Nigeria{{cite web|last1=Motshegwa|first1=Lesego|title=Nigeria teens sold for prostitution in Ivory Coast|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nigeria-teens-sold-for-prostitution-in-ivory-coast/|website=The Seattle Times|access-date=8 January 2018|date=28 August 2010}} as waitresses are subjected to sex trafficking. Officials note illegal Ivorian migrants in Algeria are vulnerable to trafficking due to their irregular and illegal status. A lack of comprehensive data on trafficking in Côte d'Ivoire renders the full scope of the problem unknown.{{cite web|title=Cote d'Ivoire 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2016/258750.htm|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=8 January 2018}}{{PD-notice}}

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Ivory Coast as a Tier 2 country.{{cite web |title=Cote d'Ivoire 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-trafficking-in-persons-report/cote-divoire/ |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=29 July 2018}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Du Bois|first1=Victor D.|title=Prostitution in the Ivory Coast: A social problem and its treatment|date=1967|publisher=American Universities Field Staff|url=https://www.amazon.com/Prostitution-Ivory-Coast-problem-treatment/dp/B0007ETPQ4|language=en}}

{{Africa in topic|Prostitution in}}

{{Ivory Coast topics}}

Category:Society of Ivory Coast