3 Introduction
4.1 The Problem and its Background
4.1.1 The Gender and Abuse Issue
The church has to rethink its gender policy. This may be the heart of the problem.
Gender issues and abuse are major factors in the Indian community and have a bearing on some women who have been tested HIV positive. Freedom for women from traditional marriage vows has been a contentious issue among Indians of all faiths. The call is now for women to be liberated from old traditions:
The interpretation of Islam by progressives is consistent with the Bill of Rights and goes against the notion of women as the silent keepers of the home and family. Itis this bill, rather than the ability to freely practice one's religion, that will give Muslim women the opportunity to challenge the established conventions which disempower them (SARDC 1997:32).
47 The new South Africa is set to bring about some major shifts in the attitudes towards women. Muslim women need to be liberated as quoted above. In the same way, we find the need for Hindu women to be liberated.
Hindu women have mixed feelings as to whether Hinduism oppresses or liberates women. The overriding feeling is that Hindus are more open to change than other religions ...
Hindu women are challenging these roles and see themselves as active participants within the community, in business and career (SARDC 1997:33).
South Africa, since the arrival of democracy in 1994, has become free to address every form of discrimination and oppression. The country has become more open-minded and change is inevitable.Women bear the brunt of sufferings.
More than ever before, South African women need to foster spaces and places for a life giving spirituality to deepen and grow. Statistics of rape, domestic violence, and the gendered face ofHIV/Aids and poverty continue to escalate ... Pain and struggle for South African women is the order of the day, not only in society at large, but also within the patriarchal structures of the church (Haddad 2001:2).
This has been a carry-over problem from previous generations among Indian women and this is what we see in the N/R suburb of Pietermaritzburg. In the beginning, Indians settled mainly in Durban and then moved throughout the rest of the country. In the major cities like Durban I found that culture changes more rapidly, whilst in the smaller cities like Pietermaritzburg, change is slow, people are conservative and hold onto traditions of the past longer than those in the larger metropolitan areas.In this research, to find out whether Christian women of N/R have been affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it was found that many Indian families were still conservative in their lifestyles, attitudes and their treatment of women. In large measure, Indian women have not been liberated.
Most churches inN/Rstill maintain male leadership and keep women in silence in the church, or allow them limited activity only in the recognised ministries amongst women and children. This research shows the need to change and to correct the discrimination against women, which will in tum lead to many benefits for the church. One such issue is the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
In addition, it is found that Indian women seem to accept the lack of status they receive from their male counterparts. Even more surprising is the finding that Christian women were made, by male clergy, to believe that the Christian Scriptures actually teach this gender inequality (SARDC 1997:33). This is what is taught in the churches. There is often the old mind-set of interpreting the Scriptures to suit old practices. In spite of all the awareness in the area of women and gender issues, Christian women in N/R have been gullible, accepting from the male clergy that God brought about this form of gender discrimination. They are made to believe that women are holy if they accept this. They are also made to believe that in submission to God they need to obey the teaching of the male- dominated clergy. The writer feels that this is erroneous teaching. Such is common practice inN/R.
The writer feels that a constitution that rejects discrimination and gender inequality should be in place.Itwill be then that the church at large can properly address community struggles such as HIV/AIDS.
To bring about such bold changes in an old-style organised church denomination will require going through the red tape of bureaucracy. This is not an easy task. The Christian communities in this area have long been taught that gender inequality is God's way of testing the submission of women to their male counterparts (Pastor David Perumal, interviewed on 06/11/01).Unless the church in this area liberates women to attain gender equality, the HIV/AIDS pandemic will continue to thrive through silence and denial among the Christian Indians of N/R. Nalini Naidoo published an article in the Natal Witness to the same effect.
She published Karen Buckenham's impression of the church, women and violence issue when she (Karen) attended a workshop and learnt of their perceptions from women. Often the women would be blamed, or they would be asked what they did to provoke such-and-such an action.She said it became clear that, in many ways, the church, a patriarchal institution, has little awareness or understanding of the extent of violence against women and how to deal with women's suffering (Naidoo, interviewed on 01/1 1/01).
This perhaps is a reflection of the attitude of the church in N/R toward women's issues. This becomes a stumbling block in dealing with epidemics like HIV/AIDS. While there are numerous persons living with HIV/AIDS and affected by the disease, nothing or very little is heard about it because basically the women, who bear the problems that surface, are meant to be silent. This gives the reason why women are silent about the HIV/AIDS issue. Vicci Tallis argues that "the gender context has been missing from programs and interventions. A
gender approach, in which women's rights are a central concern, is vital and urgent" (Tallis 1998:6-14).