A new law in Belgium allows for sex workers to have the same rights as any other job (Image: Getty)
A new law in will entitle sex workers official employment contracts allowing them to have maternity leave and pensions among other benefits.
The new law, which is the world’s first of its kind, with a number of benefits and treat their work essentially as if it’s
Sex workers in the country will now be entitled to health insurance, maternity leave, pensions and sick days.
This landmark legislation ensures sex workers have the same protections just as any other professions after it was decriminalised in 2022 with roughly 30,000 sex workers will now set to receive basic employment rights.
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The new Belgium law allows sex workers to be entitled to maternity leave and pensions (Image: Getty)
Sex worker Sophie explained how she had juggled her job while also being a mother to five children which she described as being “really hard,” reports The
She said: “I had to work while I was nine months . I was having sex with clients one week before giving birth.”
The sex worker added how when she had her fifth child she was told she had to rest after the Caesarean birth but that was simply not an option for her.
Sophie instead had to return back to work almost immediately after giving birth, explaining how she “couldn’t afford to stop” as she desperately “needed the money”.
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Now thanks to this new law, struggles similar to that of Sophie’s will be a thing of the past allowing for employers to pay her maternity leave just as any other job.
“It’s an opportunity for us to exist as people,” Sophie added.
Speaking to news, Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the law as “radical”.
She said: “It is the best step we have seen anywhere in the world so far. We need every country to be moving in that direction.”
The law is essentially allowing for sex workers to have a normal work contract with the same benefit (Image: Getty)
Under Belgium’s new law, sexual services provided in a room will also be equipped with an alarm button that will connect a sex worker with their “reference person”.
Victoria, who is president of the Belgian Union of (UTSOPI), and who had previously worked as an escort for 12 years explains how the law could also help change the stigma regarding sex work.
“It’s giving people attention, listening to their stories, eating cake with them, dancing to waltz music,” she explains.
She added: “Ultimately, it’s about loneliness.”
Some names have been changed to protect people’s safety.