Gender Dimensions of Human Trafficking: Beyond Stereotypes

Human trafficking is one of the most persistent violations of basic human rights across the world – and India is not exempt. But here is the part that often gets overlooked: trafficking is not a gender-neutral crime. A victim’s gender directly shapes the likelihood, method, and purpose of their exploitation. Women and men are trafficked, but the ways in which they are targeted, controlled, and harmed are fundamentally different. Understanding these gender dimensions is not just an academic exercise – it is essential for building responses that actually work.

Why gender matters in trafficking 🔗

It is tempting to treat human trafficking as a single, uniform crime. It is not. The entire trafficking cycle is highly gendered – from the root causes that create vulnerability, to the methods traffickers use, to the forms of exploitation victims endure. Gender does not just describe who the victim is. It determines how the crime unfolds at every stage. This is why experts and policymakers increasingly insist on a gender-sensitive approach to both prevention and prosecution.

The 2024 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, covering 156 countries, recorded a 25 per cent increase in detected trafficking victims in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Within that surge, the gender split tells a stark story. Women and girls continue to form the majority of detected victims globally, while men and boys are trafficked in rising numbers – primarily into labour exploitation. Both realities demand serious attention.

Women and girls: sexual exploitation and domestic servitude 🔗

Women and girls account for 61 per cent of all trafficking victims detected worldwide, and the majority of girl victims – around 60 per cent – are trafficked specifically for sexual exploitation. More than 90 per cent of all detected female victims globally are trafficked for this purpose. Sexual exploitation is not the only form of harm women face, however. Domestic servitude – forced unpaid or underpaid household labour – is another major category, and it is particularly difficult to detect because it happens behind closed doors, often within the informal economy.

The role of demand and gender inequality 🔗

Sexual trafficking does not exist in a vacuum. It persists because there is a demand for sexual services from which traffickers can profit – and this demand is consumed almost exclusively by men. Beneath that demand lie deeper structural issues: gender inequality, limited economic opportunities for women, and social norms that treat women as subordinate. Trafficked women experience violence because they are viewed as less important in both their home countries and the countries where they are exploited. This is not incidental – it is a pattern rooted in how gender power operates.

Bride trafficking in India: a gendered crime hiding in plain sight 🔗

In India, one of the starkest examples of gendered trafficking is bride trafficking. Young girls from economically disadvantaged regions such as Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Assam are often trafficked to states like Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan, where skewed sex ratios – a legacy of female infanticide – drive demand for brides. Research into this issue found that 85 per cent of bride trafficking victims were living in poverty before being trafficked, and around 1 in 25 such brides in Haryana is subsequently forced into prostitution. What makes this form of trafficking so hard to track is that it is camouflaged as a legal marriage.

Men and boys: the under-reported side of trafficking 🔗

The conversation around trafficking has historically centred on women and girls. This is understandable given the scale of the problem they face. But it has also led to the systematic under-detection and under-reporting of male victims. Men are primarily at risk of being trafficked for forced labour, particularly in agriculture, construction, and manufacturing sectors. Among victims trafficked for forced labour, 63 per cent are men, and male victims represent 82 per cent of all trafficking cases involving organ removal.

Why male victims are harder to identify 🔗

Male trafficking victims are less likely to come forward, and law enforcement systems are less likely to recognise them as victims. Over time, a consistently high percentage of male victims have been trafficked for labour exploitation – over 90 per cent until recent years, when cases of sexual exploitation among men began to rise. The exploitation of men in forced labour – in brick kilns, construction sites, and agricultural land across India – often goes unnoticed because it blends into the informal economy and because social expectations make men reluctant to identify themselves as victims.

Children: where gender and age intersect 🔗

Children occupy a particularly vulnerable space in the gender dynamics of trafficking. The 2024 UNODC report found that children now represent nearly 38 per cent of all detected trafficking victims globally, with a 31 per cent increase in child victims detected in 2022 compared to 2019. Girls are increasingly trafficked for sexual exploitation, while boys are trafficked in growing numbers – often linked to their status as unaccompanied migrants. In India, child trafficking remains a serious concern, with both boys and girls being exploited in child labour, begging, and in some cases, sexual abuse.

Transgender individuals: an often-invisible group 🔗

Any discussion of gender dimensions in trafficking must also include transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. The majority of transgender and non-conforming trafficking victims are exploited for sexual purposes – around 83 per cent – though data on this group remains extremely limited due to underreporting and lack of recognition. In India, where transgender communities already face significant social marginalisation, the risk of trafficking is heightened by poverty, discrimination, and limited access to legal protections.

India’s legal framework: gender and anti-trafficking law 🔗

India has built a layered legal framework to address trafficking, though gaps remain. Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits trafficking in human beings in any form, and Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code – substantially rewritten by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 – now criminalises recruitment, transportation, harbouring, and receipt of persons for the purpose of exploitation. The 2013 amendment was significant: it expanded the offence beyond slavery to cover forced labour, prostitution, organ removal, and child marriage.

Key provisions addressing gender-specific forms of trafficking 🔗

Several provisions in Indian law directly target gendered forms of trafficking. Sections 372 and 373 of the IPC criminalise the buying and selling of minors for prostitution, with penalties of up to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 targets commercial sexual exploitation. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 addresses sexual abuse of children, including trafficking for sexual purposes. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 tackles forced labour – a form of exploitation that disproportionately affects men and boys.

The gap: bride trafficking and forced marriages 🔗

One of the most significant gaps in Indian law concerns bride trafficking. Section 370 of the IPC does not explicitly define trafficking for the purpose of marriage, which means bride trafficking – one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based trafficking in India – is often inadequately addressed by the criminal justice system. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 provides some coverage, but enforcement remains inconsistent, particularly in rural regions where social pressure and poverty make detection difficult.

Push and pull: the vulnerability factors behind gendered trafficking 🔗

Trafficking does not happen randomly. It is driven by a combination of push factors – conditions that make people vulnerable – and pull factors – conditions that create demand and opportunity for traffickers. Push factors include poverty, unemployment, lack of social security, gender inequalities, and armed conflict. Pull factors include the profitability of sexual exploitation and the demand for cheap labour in sectors like agriculture and construction.

In India, these factors intersect sharply with caste, class, and regional disparities. Women from lower-caste communities or economically marginalised regions are disproportionately targeted. Men from areas with limited employment migrate to cities and industrial zones, where they are often exploited through debt bondage and threats. Crises – including poverty, conflict, climate-induced displacement, and the COVID-19 pandemic – have further increased trafficking risks, particularly for women and girls.

Building gender-responsive interventions 🔗

Effective anti-trafficking responses cannot be one-size-fits-all. They must account for how gender shapes every aspect of the crime. UN Women has emphasised that prevention strategies must pay direct attention to the gendered dimensions of vulnerability – including women’s economic inequality and the need to challenge norms that justify exploitation. For men, this means training law enforcement and service providers to recognise labour exploitation as trafficking, and creating safe channels for male victims to seek help without stigma.

In India, the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken steps in this direction – establishing Anti-Trafficking Units in over 270 districts and conducting judicial colloquia to raise awareness among court officials. Organisations like Shakti Vahini and Empower People are working on the ground to rescue victims and combat trafficking networks. But systemic change – including consolidated legislation, better data collection disaggregated by gender, and stronger survivor-led approaches – remains essential.

What do you think? If gender shapes every stage of the trafficking cycle – from vulnerability to exploitation to recovery – how should India’s legal system be restructured to address each of these gendered realities more effectively? And what role can individuals, communities, and institutions play in breaking the social norms that make trafficking possible in the first place?

References

1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2024)766265
2. https://www.border-security-report.com/human-trafficking-the-gender-dimension/
3. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-report-trafficking-persons-2024
4. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/statement/2022/07/statement-crises-drive-an-increase-in-human-trafficking-heres-how-we-stop-it
5. https://victim-support.eu/opinon/the-gender-dimension-trafficking-as-a-subset-of-gender-based-violence/
6. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/trafficking/cfis/gender-peace-security/subm-trafficking-gender-peace-aca-kiit-school-law.pdf
7. https://icat.un.org/sites/g/files/tmzbdl461/files/publications/icat-ib-04-v.1.pdf
8. https://www.ctdatacollaborative.org/story/human-trafficking-and-gender-differences-similarities-and-trends
9. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-171-human-trafficking-prevention-under-section-370-of-ipc-1860.html