Conducted over a one-year period, this study focuses on the high incidence of prostitution in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and attempts to explain this widely-spread phenomenon. The author treats her subject as a product of the labour market peculiar to Ethiopia, while comparing and contrasting it with prostitution elsewhere and the social attitudes that exist both within and outside the area under examination. The book consists of six chapters and six appendices. It begins with a review and analysis of major conceptual and theoretical issues involved in understanding prostitution. Detailed descriptions follow of the characteristics of the prostitutes who cooperated with the study. Other chapters deal with the structure of female employment in Addis Ababa and the process of entry and recruitment into prostitution.