From widowhood to sex work: Age,migration,stigma,and the search for emancipation

Abstract

The present study examines the intersection of widowhood, migration, and sex work in Sonagachi, Kolkata, exploring how widowed women negotiate stigma, survival, and agency. Situated within feminist political economy, intersectionality, and postcolonial urban theory, the study conceptualises Sonagachi as a “subaltern counter-space” where alternative moral economies and solidarities emerge. Drawing on N = 20 ethnographic, semi-structured interviews, the article identifies a critical generational differentiation in labour trajectories and experiences of marginalisation. Findings suggest that younger widows often experience a “fragile emancipation,” utilising urban economic selfhood to rupture rural ritualised patriarchy and renegotiate identities beyond traditional bidhoba (widow) constraints. Conversely, older widows encounter a “compound invisibility”; as their bodies cease to be economically productive within the sexual economy, they are relegated to the margins of both the red-light area and the very collectives designed for their empowerment. This internal stratification produces what the study terms as the “subaltern within the subaltern,” where the political economy of visibility mediates recognition and rights. The research challenges binary understandings of empowerment versus exploitation, revealing how older women reassert ritual moralities as a compensatory strategy for declining status. Ultimately, the study calls for gender-responsive urban policies and inclusive organisational practices that move beyond paternalistic rescue frameworks to recognise the labour, dignity, and political subjectivity of ageing sex workers.