Archana Paneru new business Dance Bar

Women frequently mocked the men they served, again reversing their image of the exploited victims. They laughed at the tricks and taunts they would use to make customers believe that they would sleep with them at the end of the night. But they would run off through the back door, instead jumping in pre-arranged taxis that took them home. While the girls I spoke to sounded like they had willingly joined the profession and were comfortable with their work, there are stories of women who are forced either by circumstances or by human traffickers into this profession. According to Cabin Dance Bar Restaurant Association data (updated in 2010), there are around 30,000 women and girls in Kathmandu who are working in the Entertainment Sector. They are paid USD 40-70 per month. “Though we can’t generalise, during our research I met many women who wanted to leave the profession and start a new life,” says Samjhana Karmacharya, project coordinator at Saathi, who campaigns for creating a safe and violence-free environment for women working in the Entertainment sector (Cabin and Dance restaurant) of Kathmandu.