Paper short abstract:

A woman trafficking is the greatest menace in South Asian countries. Growing socio-economic vulnerability in the family has been contributing to this kind of trafficking.

Paper long abstract:

The paper is based on an empirical study of the household maids, nurses, bar dancers, beauticians, message parlor workers and a few aspirants of better life style in Kolkata and Mumbai(two metropolis). I have tried to connect a range of interrelated themes in the study like, gender, kinship and culture. Here is an attempt to impress upon how the diversities in the kinship systems and also the cultural types qualitatively affect the gender relation and subsequently determine the status of women and persistently cause gender inequality. This in turn promotes illegal or legal transfer of person. Hence one easily gets trapped into the vicious racket of sexual exploitation. In many societies certain language is used for stressing the man's rights over woman's sexuality. The investigation on the organized crime was carried out by a team of professionally qualified persons under my supervision. These initially largely based on memory and (once local suspicions subsided) derive from notes which were taken during conversations and observations. Later, we used some semi-structured interview schedules. Our two assistants(girls) helped us com to terms with the regional dialects and they also acted as cultural interpreters.

The above issues need to be addressed to for the control of women trafficking. It is proposed that a rational approach is required to combat this problem and rehabilitate the victims while banking heavily on family and kinship relations. An Asian Coordination Institute is recommended to be set up with headquarters in Nepal or Bangladesh.

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