We are a coalition between survivors of the sex trade and professionals working in the VAWG sector. We are united in our desire to see better outcomes for women involved in the sex trade because we believe that women deserve more.
We have five recommendations for change.
We are engaging with local and national government to help make the recommendations a reality.
FiLiA Women First is proud that along with sister organisations, Kairos Women Working Together (Kairos) in Coventry, nia in London, Street Talk in London, SWAN Project in Swansea and Women at the Well in London, have today (19th March) published the first ever England and Wales ‘Snapshot’ Report about women involved in the commercial sex trade.
The Snapshot is an analysis of the experiences and needs of 91 women supported by five grassroots services in towns in England and Wales over the course of one week in October 2025.
Most of the women had been involved in street prostitution, but others were subjected to different types of commercial sexual exploitation, such as in brothels or online activities. The Snapshot reveals that:
85% of the women experienced traumatic childhoods, with very high rates of physical and sexual abuse
Three-quarters of the women have experienced domestic abuse
Two-thirds have been homeless, and half have had substance misuse problems
98% of the women have mental health issues and need support with this
Three-quarters of those who are mothers have had one or more children removed from their care.
The Snapshot highlights the women’s experiences, both in childhood and adulthood, revealing significant exposure to traumatic childhood events, alongside repeat victimisation of multiple crimes in adulthood.
The Snapshot documents the extreme harms that women are subjected to in prostitution, such as gang-rape, abduction and attempted murder:
Around 70% of the women have experienced such violence and harm, with very low rates of reporting to the police.
It reveals how a high number of women report wanting to exit prostitution but face concrete barriers to doing so.
The Snapshot exercise originates from Scotland, where it was first carried out in 2022 with five services co-ordinated by the Women’s Support Project on behalf of the Encompass Network.
Hannah Shead, project lead from Women First, talks about bringing the Snapshot methodology to England and Wales.
‘We wanted to coordinate an England and Wales Snapshot to contribute to the national understanding of an area of profound harm to women. Whilst there appears to be a growing focus on violence against women in public and policy discourse, for some reason women involved in the sex trade are frequently overlooked. We hope that the Snapshot findings will provide valuable evidence for anyone seeking to understand prostitution and sexual exploitation at both a community and national level.’
The Snapshot concludes by calling upon the Government to strengthen its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy by working more closely with grassroots women’s organisations to better understand sexual exploitation, particularly among the most marginalised women.
It urges greater policy focus on the lived realities of disadvantaged women and girls, and highlights the vital role of community-based, women-led, single-sex specialist services in providing effective support.
You can read and download the full report here.
We submitted a Freedom of Information request to understand the current state of support for women involved in prostitution across Local Authority areas.
Only 18% of councils confirmed they commission a dedicated service for women selling sex.
We also wanted to know whether prostitution is recognised as a form of male violence against women. Shockingly, fewer than 10% of areas include services for women in prostitution within their Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategies.
Finally, we asked what exit support is available. Despite consistent research showing that 9 in 10 women want to leave prostitution, less than 30% of areas offer any help to support women to exit.
There’s clearly a long way to go.
The Women First project is ready to lead that change—guided by our five recommendations for action.
The inherent harms facing women cannot be ignored and are not limited to women who have been visibly trafficked into the sex trade. We ask local authorities to include within their VAWG strategy services that work with women involved in the sex trade.
Women need to know that they can exit the sex trade. Move-on support should be visible at all points of a woman’s journey.
Women require a specialist service. The sustainability of services should not be dependent upon grants / volunteers. We call upon local authorities to commission and fund services ‒ this includes specific exiting support.
Staff working in services that women may attend (housing / children’s social care / DASV / addiction / sexual health) should receive training about the needs of women in the sex trade.
We need up-to-date statistics about the scale and nature of the sex trade. This includes understanding women’s lived experiences. We ask for investment in research to understand the current landscape, including the online sex trade. We ask that data collection is improved to more effectively measure the impact of interventions upon women’s lives.
“No money is worth what I was going through”
“I was in chaos, my whole life was in chaos, I was just going from one crazy situation to the next crazy situation.”
“Wanted to exit since first day of working…it was so horrendous…it was man after man after man, it was like being raped continuously”
“I’ve become more feminist in my thinking, and I really realise the damage it does”
The number of people involved in prostitution is unknown. Estimates vary between 35,000 – over 100,000, with the majority being women.
What is well known, is the high levels of violence perpetrated against women. Women in prostitution are 18 times more likely to be murdered than the general female population.
Beyond the inherent violence of prostitution, three-quarters of women in the sex trade have reported being subjected to violence from men who buy sex.
Too often, services that are supporting women, adopt a “harm reduction” approach. This amounts to crisis management – distributing condoms or safety alarms while women remain trapped in systems of exploitation. This is not enough.
We need to go beyond this and offer real exit pathways: properly funded, specialist women’s services, where support is holistic, trauma-informed, and open-ended.
We also need to challenge the narrative that prostitution is a “choice.”
Audit Tool for Local Authorities
Improve your service for women exploited within the sex trade.
We have developed a Women First Audit Tool for local authorities to use to improve their service for women exploited within the sex trade.
We understand that each area is different. Local need and current levels of contact with women will be unique.
The audit is tailored to each area, but will include:
- Mapping of current services / accessibility and pathways
- Understanding practitioner confidence in working with women, including asking the question and supporting women to move on
- Listening to the lived experience of women – survivor led focus groups to ensure women’s voices are heard
- Training for staff
One-Day Training Programme
For professionals supporting women involved in the sex trade.
We have developed a one-day training programme for professionals who may be supporting women who are involved in the sex trade.
It includes:
What is prostitution & commercial sexual exploitation?
- What is happening in the UK?
- Statistical overview
- Prostitution vs sex work
- Different models
- Why does this fall under Male Violence Against Women and Girls (MVAWG)?
- Entry into the industry
- How you can help / what works?
- Exiting strategies
- & more
Name
Bio
Esther is a sex industry survivor and recovery trainer with a longstanding interest in legal and public policy relating to all forms of violence against women and girls.
She works for Nordic Model Now! and is also involved in supporting the French, grassroots feminist organisation Mouvement du Nid.
Name
Bio
Hannah has worked in the drug and alcohol / women’s sector for over 25 years, working in community and residential services.
Her desire to see an end to the buying and selling of women's bodies led to her being part of the Women's First team.
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” Audre Lorde
Name
Bio
L is a sex trade survivor. She played a pivotal role in the early development of Women First by carrying out a series of interviews with survivors of the sex trade. She has continued to be a valued member of the team.
She is a passionate abolitionist having witnessed first-hand the harm inflicted upon women within the sex trade.
Name
Bio
I have always been interested in issues that affect women but during the last few years I have become better informed about those issues particularly in relation to MVAWG, sexual violence and the sex trade. Following on from that, I have spent my time volunteering for FiLiA, You My Sister and now for Women First.
I hope that Women First will play a pivotal role in the current shift in awareness and understanding that has highlighted how all aspects of the sex trade are harmful to women and girls and that men who pay for sex are committing sexual violence. We are aware that women involved in the sex trade are not routinely asked if they would like to exit by the services that offer support to them, and this is at odds with what we know about the harms of the sex trade. If services have a greater understanding of those harms and the fact that most women would leave the sex trade if they could then Women First can support them to implement improved support and exit services.
Name
Bio
A is an anonymous survivor of the sex trade. Since exiting the sex trade, she has used her experience to try to raise awareness of the harms inflicted upon women involved in it.
Name
Bio
Sally is a volunteer, trustee and the Male Violence Against Women and Girls (MVAWG) lead for FiLiA. She has worked in the MVAWG sector for over 35 years in the local, national, and international arena. Her experience has included service development and management. She developed the first health based domestic abuse advocate service and one of the first domestic and sexual abuse advocate services in the UK. She is very proud to be part of the Women First team.
Name
Bio
You My Sister supports survivors of the porn & sex industries, helping survivors to recover and manage their mental health. All of our work is created and delivered with experts - survivors, making our work particularly impactful.
We are acutely aware of the overwhelming harm of the sex trade and the overwhelming desire of 90% in it to escape and the long term support that is then needed.
We bring the vitally important experiences and insights from the many women we work with to enable this.
Name
Bio
J is a survivor of the sex trade. She has lived experiences of involvement in brothels, massage parlours, private flats and escort work, alongside addiction to heroin.
In 2024, J was the key witness in a criminal case relating to a historic rape and brutal attack perpetrated against her when she was involved in prostitution. The assailant received a custodial sentence
J now uses her lived experience to speak out about the harms of the sex trade, working in both a paid and voluntary capacity.
Name
Bio
I joined Women First after a volunteer call at FiLiA, driven by my lifelong conviction that prostitution is violence against women and my commitment to support women in exiting it. I want to see women offered real, sustainable routes to exit and live free of violence and exploitation.
Name
Bio
Kellie Ziemba is the CEO of Kairos Women Working Together, a Coventry-based charity supporting women facing multiple disadvantage, including those exploited through prostitution. Drawing on her own lived experience of MVAWG, including sexual exploitation both outside and inside the sex industry, Kellie is a passionate advocate for the abolition of the sex trade in all its forms.
“This isn’t just about awareness-raising. It’s about transformation. I joined Women First because I want to see a world without prostitution, and I believe women who’ve been through it are best placed to lead the way”.
We’re turning feminist ideas into action, but we can’t do it alone.
Every donation helps us reach more women and push for real change.
Help make it happen!
