Find out how Associação Empresas da Cidadania Coletivo Mulheres Luz was created

Cleone was a union activist, but she was left alone with three children to raise. At the time, she worked in the Bom Retiro neighbourhood, SP, as a cleaner for two stores.

She was reading her newspaper one day in Parque da Luz when a man approached her and asked if she had sex for money.  She denied it, but he persisted for days… until she gave in.

The transition from a union activist to a woman in prostitution happened when she realised that she was earning 5 times more than her job. She claims that she only told her kids about it after that private period of her life was over.

Today, Cleone dos Santos is president of Associação Agentes da Cidadania, coordinates Coletivo Mulheres da Luz and is the head of Coordenadoria de Políticas Públicas para Mulheres no Município de Diadema.

Coletivo Mulheres da Luz

The collective, founded in 2013, aims to promote citizenship and the protection of rights for women living in prostitution in São Paulo’s central region. They assist women who are over 40 years old. Many of them are elderly and, for the most part, black people from the ghetto and hardly any education.

What inspired Cleone to Coletivo Mulheres da Luz was realising that many women were unaware of their rights. Among the activities offered by the Coletivo, we can mention school tutoring, literacy, psychological care, legal referrals, and professional training, in addition to training workshops. During the pandemic, food handouts were collected and delivered to all members.

One of the Coletivo’s main missions is to bring the prostitution agenda to the public. There are often lectures, conversation circles, meetings, book launches, and other integration and socialisation activities. In addition to giving visibility to the cause, these events are also a space to discuss access to rights such as retirement, housing, and public health.

Cleone says the idea is to raise a flag and place the issue on the agenda of the city and opinion makers. Another goal is to break the stigma and stereotypes that people have about women who work in prostitution. This will reduce prejudice and bring attention to specific problems that these women face.

Another action carried out for the benefit of the participants is the promotion of their access to public policies. Partnerships have already been signed with the Public Health Network, with referrals being made to Social Security, in particular the BPC (Benefit of Continuous Provision) and the LOAS (Organic Law of Social Assistance), which guarantees a minimum wage for the elderly.

Cleone Santos discusses additional goals of the project:

“Our goal is to listen to the challenges faced by women in prostitution in the central region of São Paulo and, together with them, propose and work on actions to improve these realities, give them visibility, and promote health, education, integral health, and leisure for the public assisted.” she says.

Cleone dos Santos says that the collective’s greatest achievement is that it already has some women with university education, others trained as caregivers, in addition to having nine Prevention Agents in action. She also celebrates the promotion of greater coexistence among all women in the association.

To support the cause, click aqui.

or call +55 (11) 96472 8631.

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The headquarters of Coletivo are located at Rua Carmine Forte, Bom Retiro, So Paulo, Capital.