Advancing Trans and Sex Workers’ Rights through the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy

Trans people face structural discrimination across education, employment, housing, and healthcare, which makes them more vulnerable to poverty. In the EU, only 51% of trans people are in paid employment compared to nearly 70% of the general population2. According to the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, 43% of trans women, 30% of trans men, and 20% of non-binary respondents reported discrimination when seeking work3. Trans women are almost three times more likely to be unemployed. These disparities do not emerge in adulthood alone: many trans young people experience bullying and exclusion at school, which erodes their academic performance, increases dropout rates, and denies them access to qualifications that could secure future employment. For those who are also migrants, these challenges are compounded by the non-recognition of foreign diplomas, limited language support, and barriers to obtaining work permits. 

Even when trans people do enter the job market, they are frequently shut out by discrimination. At the workplace, around one in three trans people experienced exclusion or harassment in the past year. Legal gender recognition is a critical factor here4. Across much of the EU, fast, accessible, and affordable procedures to update identification documents are still absent. The mismatch between a person’s lived gender and their official documents not only discourages many from applying for jobs but also creates obstacles in banking, welfare, and access to essential services. In Lithuania, for example, trans people must go through lengthy court proceedings and pay around €800 in legal fees simply to obtain legal recognition, a process that remains inaccessible for many5. 

Housing insecurity is another pressing concern. Up to 1 in 3 trans people in the EU report having experienced homelessness or severe housing difficulties6. Discrimination is widespread: 25% have been directly refused a rental or home purchase because of their gender identity7. For young trans people, family rejection often results in homelessness, leaving them trapped in cycles of insecurity. For trans sex workers, the situation is even more precarious. Under laws that criminalise “brothel-keeping”, landlords across Europe are pressured to evict tenants suspected of engaging in sex work. This particularly affects trans people because underlying assumptions that all trans women are sex workers lead to this type of discriminatory treatment. The result is a system where trans people are denied housing not only when they are sex workers, but also when they are merely profiled as such. 

Austerity measures and welfare cuts across Europe disproportionately affect the most marginalised, pushing many into sex work as a means of survival. This includes single mothers without access to affordable childcare, disabled people who are excluded from labour markets shaped by narrow capitalist productivity norms, and migrants who are denied access to social benefits or legal employment. For migrants and racialised communities, these barriers are compounded by the lack of legal status and language barriers. Public narratives often erase this complexity, portraying (migrant) sex workers solely as victims of trafficking or victims of violence against women, ignoring their agency and the compounded discrimination they face. For trans people, discrimination in housing, employment, and education compounds these pressures, further limiting safe options in the formal economy. Sex work itself is closely linked to structural inequality in the labour market. 

Criminalisation of sex work exacerbates these dynamics. Laws targeting sex workers, their clients, or third parties such as landlords and managers push sex work into unsafe and unregulated environments. The so-called “Nordic model”, which criminalises clients, has consistently failed to improve the lives of sex workers, instead making their work riskier and further restricting their access to justice. Structural inequalities, stigma and intersecting forms of discrimination that fuel poverty are the reasons why many people decide to sell sex. Even in countries where sex work is legal, burdensome requirements such as mandatory registration or compulsory health checks create unsafe parallel economies. For trans sex workers—who already face transphobia, racism, and housing discrimination—these restrictions multiply the risks of exploitation and exclusion. 

The overlap between transphobia and whorephobia is clear. The 2025 ESWA report No Place to Call Home documents how discrimination based on gender identity is not only a barrier to access housing, but also a pathway into sex work for many trans people8. One of the interviewees, a trans woman, explains: “If I rent an Airbnb and they realise that I am transgender, they make the connection of me using the house to do sex work so they won’t allow it.”  This constant presumption criminalises trans people’s existence and fuels both housing and labour discrimination. 

In this context, many trans sex workers are pushed into undeclared and unsafe work, without access to healthcare, pensions, or unemployment protections. Decriminalisation would change this reality. Where sex work is fully decriminalised, sex workers can claim labour rights, negotiate safer working conditions, and access social protection schemes. Full decriminalisation is therefore not only a matter of rights but also an effective poverty reduction measure.