Prostitution is legal where I live (Australia) and I can confirm that not every woman has turned to prostitution.
Indeed! It's the same in New Zealand.
As attractive as it may be (in terms of income) there are always inherent risks that come with every occupation.
It even stimulates tourism. I wonder what would happen to the Amsterdam economy if legalization of softdrugs and prostitution becomes the global norm.
Obviously, this should be solvable through better regulation enforcement - but there doesn't seem to be the political will to pay for that...
Maybe in the short-term; it would probably somewhat increase the rate of entry. But removing the powerlessness that comes from illegality would probably also make it much more common for people to be able to move up and out of it and one to other things once they'd entered.
Legalizing prostitution allows its workers to fall under police protection.
Illegality also leads to money hiding endeavors and tax fraud. Illegal sex workers are wary of setting up a real shop where they could implement security methods, or a guard to stand at the door in a brothel type operation.
Legalizing prostitution allows for better taxation, and less in the way of illicit venues.
I'm sure you're right in that every woman wouldn't turn to prostitution just because it became legal, but at least part of that should be attributed to the inherent danger of working in an illegal market with zero marketplace or police protections. We (hopefully) wouldn't see a huge spike in legitimate prostitution if it were legalized, but we would almost certainly see an uptick.