CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
4.5 Data analysis using Engeström’s model of the activity system
4.5.4 The sexual activity system of a married woman
The activity system in Figure 4.4 below illustrates the sexual activity system of a married woman. The married woman is the subject of the analysis. From the analysis, the objects of this activity are to retain the relationship and to have children. Married women in this study argued that they put up with the risk of HIV infections to maintain a good relationship (see extracts 25 and 26 above). The tools identified to mediate this activity were condoms, HIV testing, and safe sex knowledge and messages. Married women were aware of HIV and AIDS and its prevention strategies. Some indicated having talked to their husbands about the use of condoms in outside relationships (as illustrated in extracts 34 and 35). Some said that they had done HIV testing.
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An analysis of the relationship between the subject and the object of the activity system highlighted identity (related to having children) as significant outcome of sexual activity.
However, being infected by HIV was also an outcome of the activity. A married woman’s identity is attached to child-bearing and keeping her marriage. This was most clear in section 4.3.1 in which participants justified non-use of condoms by referring to the expectation of child-bearing in marriage. The informal rules for this activity were that married women should have children, they should be trustworthy (that is, not engage in sex with other partners outside of the marriage relationship) and should not use condoms with their husbands. This was most clear in extracts 20, 21, 22, and 24, where participants argued that condoms are inappropriate for married couples because marriage is meant for children. The community for the subject of this activity includes other married women. It was clear from the participants’ accounts that a married woman was submissive to her husband in the activity (see section 4.2.6 above).
Women’s other ‘role’ was to take responsibility for initiating condom use, evident in extract 6 in section 4.2.3. These aspects relates to the division of labour component of the activity system.
Subject: (Married woman)
Rules
(Monogamous relationship, trust husband, should have children, should retain the
relationship )
Community
(Married women) Division of labour
Horizontal: Responsible for injectable contraception and sexual safety
Vertical: Submissive to the activity
Outcome (Identity, HIV,
pregnancy) Mediating artefacts
(Condoms, HIV knowledge and messages, injectable contraceptive, HIV testing)
Object (Child-bearing,
maintain the relationship)
Figure 4.4. The sexual activity system of a married woman.
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From the analysis of the data, the following tensions were observed in the sexual activity system of a married woman. The first tension is between the object of the activity, child- bearing, which relates to identity, and the mediating tool of the condom. Child-bearing is viewed as a critical part of marriage. For many married women, their identity is tied to their ability to bear children. Being able to bear children provides a married woman with a positive social identity. If she does not bear children, there is usually a concern about infertility. This is evident in extract 23 in the words of the participant who stresses the need for sex in marriage relationships: “it will be like there is one of you who is infertile”.
Many participants, both men and women, believed that condoms are not supposed to be used in marriage as marriage is meant for procreation (extracts 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 above). Condoms were seen as inappropriate for married couples. This presents a dilemma, because condom use is necessary for protection against STI infections but also to prevent pregnancy. This tension is a manifestation of a secondary contradiction between the object of the activity, child-bearing, and the mediating tool of the condom. However, this tension is weak because condom use is still not seen as acceptable in marriage.
There was also a tension between the informal rule of ‘trust’ and the mediating tool of the condom. Married couples were assumed to have more trust in each other than unmarried couples. This was most clear in extract 27, where it was argued that it is important to be worried about condom use with a partner to whom one is not married because you cannot trust one another when you are not married. Due to the fact that marriage is about trust, fidelity was assumed; therefore, condom use was seen as not necessary. This creates a dilemma, because suggesting condom use threatens the trust of the partners in each other.
Many married women may perceive themselves to be at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections. However, it is difficult for them to negotiate condom use, even when they see the need, because suggesting condoms would raise the possibility of mistrust (as seen in extracts 25 and 26 above). Thus, married women tend to avoid suggesting condom use in their sexual relationship and they continue to engage in unsafe sex practices in order to maintain the relationship and not threaten it in any way. This tension is a manifestation of a secondary contradiction between the informal rule or expectation of trust and the mediating tool of the condom. It is a significant tension because many married women expressed a concern about lack of trust in marriage, particularly due to their husbands’ infidelity. This was
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seen most clearly in extracts 29, 30, 31, 32, where many married women argued that marriage does not guarantee trust. They emphasised that married couples need to use condoms because one cannot guarantee that one’s partner is being faithful.