Constitutional Contradictions and Quasi-Legal Governance: Sex Work in Bangladesh Through a Feminist Legal Lens

Abstract

This academic article examines the governance of sex work in Bangladesh through the combined lenses of feminist legal theory, constitutional and statutory law, and the lived experiences of sex workers. It explores the tensions between abolitionist and decriminalisation perspectives and considers how these competing approaches interact with a legal framework in which sex work is neither fully criminalised nor fully recognised. The article argues that constitutional contradictions, fragmented statutory regulation, judicial recognition and discretionary enforcement together produce a system of quasi-legal governance.

Drawing on documentary and legal analysis alongside qualitative interviews with sex workers, feminist activists, academics, legal professionals, law enforcement representatives and other relevant stakeholders, the research examines how this regulatory ambiguity operates in practice. It highlights differences between brothel-based, street-based or “floating”, home- and hotel-based, and other forms of sex work, and explores the roles of economic necessity, constrained choice, policing, administrative categorisation, stigma and social exclusion. The article argues that neither abolitionist nor decriminalisation frameworks alone fully capture the hybrid and contradictory realities of sex-work governance in Bangladesh, and identifies a persistent gap between formal rights and their practical realisation.

The article is accompanied by The Legal Regulation of Sex Work in Bangladesh: A Reference Manual, which provides a practical reference to the constitutional provisions, legislation, judicial decisions, administrative practices and enforcement mechanisms that shape the legal regulation of sex work in Bangladesh.

The research was produced within the framework of the Global Campus Alumni Cross-Regional Projects 2025–2026, in partnership with Right Livelihood.