Chennai sex workers tighten their belts

You can't mess with the Chennai sex workers. Their violent customers would soon be at the receiving end of karate chops. Twenty-eight-year-old Shiny (not her real name) has been a victim of violent behaviour by her clients.

She's now confident of protecting herself from excesses that seldom get reported.

Says Shiny: "Sometimes clients forcibly barge in four to five. Often they don't give money and even take away our jewellery. Even if we can't hit them back, we can at least protect ourselves."

In Chennai more than six thousand women are involved in commercial sex. The NGO working with them his is hopeful of reaching out to a larger group.

Says A J Hariharan, founder of Indian Community Welfare Organisation: "We'll train two hundred more in the second phase and another five hundred in the third phase. Later the community will take over."

Says Scott E Woodard, Economic/Political Officer, Consulate General of USA: "Last week President Obama spoke about empowerment of women at Cairo. This is an example of it."

While there's a long way to go for commercial sex workers in India to attain professional status, this is certainly seen as an empowerment of sorts.