2.3 Factors Responsible for the Spread of HIV and AIDS in Women
2.3.1 Gender Inequality
In recent years, there is a tendency amongst many scholars and activists to reduce gender to women’s issues. As argued by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), “The concept of gender, despite its growing usage, remains largely misunderstood. It tends to be mistakenly associated as another word for woman and is often limited to describing the biological definition of being woman.”38 Seemingly, King (1995) argues that at present, gender studies are still mainly focused on women because women have been voiceless for so long.39
In fact, gender is not confined to women’s issues. Gender refers to culturally constructed differentiation between men and women in terms of expected social roles.
It refers to how individuals are brought up to act as men and women. In other words, while one’s sexual identity as a male or female is a biological fact, how one expresses one’s masculinity or femininity is shaped by societal values and norms.
It is for these reasons, therefore, that some men argue that they have nothing to do with gender issues and as such, they are resistant to gender and so create discrepancies between women and men in every aspect of life. This understanding also forms the basis of the unequal treatment of women by men. A clear definition of gender is provided by Togarasei and Chitando (2008) as they say,
40
38 World Alliance of Reformed Churches Researches. 2003, pg. 63.
39Ursula King. 1995. “Introduction: Gender and the Study of Religion”, in King, U. (ed). Religion and Gender.
Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pg. 1.
40 Lovemore Togarasei and Ezra Chitando. 2008. “Teaching Religion and Gender in Contexts of HIV and
19 Gender therefore includes both women and men and yet it is misunderstood to a great degree.
Defined by the Churches of Zimbabwe in the ‘Discussion Document’ (2006), gender is “the expectations and norms within a society with regard to appropriate male and female behaviour and roles, which attribute to men and women different access to status and power, including resources and decision-making power.”41
This definition already shows the different roles between women and men. Thus, the roles and expectations assigned to women and men are reinforced and promoted by deep-seated societal biases and misperceptions. Dube (2003) describes gender roles as she asserts that men are considered as public leaders, thinkers, decision-makers and property owners while women are constructed primarily as domestic beings, who belong to the home or in the kitchen.
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Women’s primary roles include taking care of household needs - from energy needs, to food processing, cooking, nurturing children and caring for elders. These roles are largely under-valued and under-recognised. In addition, customs, beliefs and practices in many parts of the world prohibit women’s access to resources such as education, loans and credit, thus limiting their participation in the public sphere. In other words, women are prohibited from holding leadership and decision-making positions within religious institutions because customs and traditions consider them to be unclean.
The same view is shared by the WARC in a statement,
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The negative implications of gender imbalances have not spared women in the area of St Alois Catholic Rural Mission Station. Like many other African women, they are disadvantaged through socialisation processes that promote men as physically powerful and fearless. Therefore, gender inequality can well be viewed as having its roots in the patriarchal organisation of most African societies where patriarchy engenders a culture of male domination and female subordination. Generally, this implies that women’s inequality far outweighs that of men in both the private and public spheres of society, and this inequality makes them vulnerable in every respect. The construction of gender, therefore, has created a hierarchy that places men on the top ladder while women are placed on the lowest level. As
AIDS in Africa”, in Ezra Chitando (ed), Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS in the Theological Education:
Experiences and Explorations. Geneva: WCC Publications, pg. 214.
41 The Zimbabwe We Want: 2006, pg. 19.
42 Musa W. Dube. (ed) 2003. “Culture, Gender and HIV/AIDS: Understanding and Acting on the Issues”, in Musa W. Dube, HIV/AIDS and the Curriculum: Methods of Integrating HIV/AIDS in Theological
Programmes, pg. 87.
43 World Alliance of Reformed Churches Researches. 2003, pg. 64.
20 such, men have become dominant in their relationships with women. Dube (2003) provides a summary of how African societies have constructed gender. She says,
Women are mothers, wives, dependent on property of their husbands, brothers or fathers. Women are constructed to be silent, non-intelligent, emotional, well behaved, non-questioning, obedient and faithful to one man-husband, boyfriend or live-in partner. And so we think of a good woman as one who takes good care of her home, children, husband, who hardly questions or speaks back to her partner, and who remains faithful to him. A good man is one who is fearless, brave, a property-owner, a public leader and, in some cultures, he may have more than one partner.44
The above attitudes have been internalised so strictly that many people in many African cultures think that gender is natural and therefore cannot be deconstructed. It is for this reason that the women of St. Alois, like many other women in African societies, are at the margins of the society and also more at risk to HIV and AIDS.
Gender Inequality in the Era of HIV and AIDS
In this era of HIV and AIDS, and in view of the existing inequalities between women and men, it is easy therefore, to identify who is more vulnerable to HIV and AIDS and why. In trying to explain why gender has been a major driving force behind the spread of HIV and AIDS, I find Gupta’s explanation of gender useful. She says,
There is always a distinct difference between women and men’s roles, access to produce productive resources outside the home and decision-making authority.
Typically, men are seen as being responsible for the responsible for reproductive and productive activities within home...women have less access over control of productive resources than men – resources such as income, land credit, and education.45
Apart from being more vulnerable, as mentioned earlier, women of St Alois Catholic Rural Mission Station bear the responsibility of providing care to people living with HIV and AIDS. With the advent of home-based care, we see some of these women on the frontline of caring for HIV family members. Hence, chances to contract HIV and AIDS becomes high because women do this job without protective measures. Gender inequality, therefore, is one of the factors that are identified as the major driving force behind the spread of HIV and
44 Musa W. Dube. (ed) 2003, pg. 87.
45 Geeta Rao Guitar. 2000. Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS: The What, the Why and the How, plenary address, 13th international AIS conference, Durban, South Africa, pg 1-8, www.icrw.org.
21 AIDS. It is because of the construction of gender roles that many people have been led into thinking that men should always dominate women even in sexual life.
In the situation of St Alois Catholic Rural Mission Station, there are also large social and economic gaps between women and men and these inequalities have played a central role in the spread of HIV infection. Chirongoma (2006) argues, “Pervasive gender inequality, poverty and the violation of women’s rights is propelling the spread of HIV and AIDS among the women of Zimbabwe. Traditional practices and violence affect their ability to enjoy a healthy, safe and stress-free existence”.46
Any theologian, lecturer, leader or worker who lives in the human-rights era – who believes in democracy, and wants to contribute positively to the fight against HIV/AIDS, which is turning our dark-peopled continent into a red fire-inflamed continent of death – must not only seek to understand fully how it fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS, but also to change gender construction so that it empowers men and women. It is up to the society to be instrumental in change and transformation. The present set up benefits no one – men or women.
The sad part of it is the fact that the deafening silence regarding the vulnerability of women in many African societies continue to remain an issue of debate. The increase of women’s vulnerability continues to challenge the Churches and societies. As such, Dube calls upon theologians and other stakeholders to be actively involved in transforming culture and gender. She challenges people in the following words:
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