2.3 Factors that Influence Young People’s Vulnerability to HIV Infection
2.3.2 Gender-Based Violence
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older men as a way to a better life, with the potential for marriage and security, something same-age partners are often not able to offer. While this may be empowering from their perspectives, the unequal power relations that exist within the relationships may mean that young women have less decision-making power in matters that relate to their sex lives and that they may, therefore, be vulnerable to the risk of HIV infection among other negative impacts. This study examined the ways in which unequal gender norms may play a role in the ways in which young people in Lesotho schools understand and respond to the HIV and AIDS interventions that they are exposed to through the curriculum.
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partner relationships, sexual abuse, trauma, abuse, and other forms of sexual violence as risk factors leading to greater HIV infection rates.”
Linked to unequal gender norms discussed in the above section, the extent to which the community accepts or tolerates men’s abuse of power over women often leads to violence. Brown’s (2006) study on Sexual Violence found that there is an increase in the prevalence of gender-based and sexual violence in Lesotho. This heightens women’s risk to HIV infection. While more men than women tend to support patriarchy, large numbers of women also internalise, support and collude with the system (Matlho, 2016). For example, according to the Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey (2009), about 37 percent of married women believed that a man had a right to beat his wife if she argued with him and 23 percent were agreeable that a husband had an inherent right to get sex from his wife whether she wanted it or not (see also ICF Macro, “STAT compiler,” March 25, 2011).
Linked to this conclusion, a study by Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) (2002) found that Lesotho victims of gender based sexual violence live in fear that they are never fully protected against those who violate them. After any short period of incarceration, they are likely to be released back into society. The study indicated that this fear may be attributed to threats made by the perpetrator or what the victim thinks that the perpetrator might do in retaliation to having been reported; this fear leads to underreporting of sexual violence. For example, the Rapid Assessment on Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Food Insecurity (UNFPA, 2010) found that while sexual abuse is on the increase in Lesotho, it tends to be underreported in police stations due to the fear of victimization and violence by perpetrators. Matlho ‘s (2016) assessment study on the Legal environment for HIV and AIDS in Lesotho found that the victims had been discouraged from reporting gender sexual violence because
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of the law being either too lenient or not helpful at all to them. The study found that the process is long and taxing on victims and the rate of convictions in such cases is disappointingly low.
In the context of unequal gender norms, particularly in rural communities, girls and young women face a number of threats to their sexual health and well-being. For example, the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust (2012) found that the fact that under customary law, young (underage) girls can be forced or coerced into early marriages is one of the major contributing factors and drivers of the HIV and AIDS epidemic and impacts significantly on young women.
Similarly, Matlho’s (2016) report on assessment of the legal environment for HIV and AIDS in Lesotho acknowledges the importance of the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA) (2011) with its provisions that promote access to sexual and reproductive health and the rights of young people. However, Matlho observes an inconsistency between the age of consent to medical treatment and HIV testing and the age of consent to sex. She argues that, on one hand, the laws that determine the age at which young people may lawfully consent to sex are intended to protect them. On the other hand, these laws may also limit young people’s access to sexual reproductive health services. For example, at community and institutional level, staff members’ perceptions of young people’s ability or right to access these services may be linked to their understanding of the age of consent and its implications (International Planned Parenthood Federation, 2014). This not only creates barriers to young people’s access to these services and uncertainty among health care workers of the services that they should provide to this clientele but it also increases stigma surrounding young people’s sexuality. The International Planned Parenthood Federation Report (2014: 20) notes that “where ages of consent are low, young people could be more vulnerable to sexual violence and health risks associated to early sexual activity. Alternatively, where the age of consent is set high, young people are likely to be denied the education and services that they need to make informed, healthy and
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independent decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. Lack of education and services may have serious emotional, social and health implications.”
The discussion in this section suggests that gender inequality and gender-based violence tend to put pressure on girls and women. This situation may lead to coerced and unsafe sexual encounters. Lack of power to control their sexual encounters or to negotiate condom use, in particular, often renders young women and girls vulnerable to HIV infections.