Exiting Commercial Sex Work: a Case of Adolescent Street Girls of the Harare Central Business District in Zimbabwe

Abstract The paper interrogates narratives of adolescent street girls of the Harare Central Business District, Zimbabwe, exiting commercial sex work. A qualitative research methodology punctuated by street ethnography was adopted to gather data for the paper. A feminist social work approach and empowerment theory were used to have a deeper understanding of the lives of these children. Research findings suggest that there were very few cases where adolescent street girls of Harare Central Business District were successfully exiting transactional sex. There were varied and multiple reasons why they could not successfully exit commercial sex work. Some of them included addiction on commercial sex work, limited survival options outside commercial sex work, peer pressure, street subculture, and substance abuse. The paper concludes by advocating and lobbying key stakeholders such as the Government of Zimbabwe to improve the lives of children in street situations through provision of social protection mechanisms.