Gender Inequality

South Africa celebrated the 10th anniversary of Women’s Day on Aug 9th.
On Aug 9th, 1956 over 20,000 women marched to the government buildings in Pretoria to protest against a law requiring black women to carry passes. The celebration marks the efforts of the government to empower women. Today 33% percent of women hold parliament, showing significant strides compared to the days of Apartheid. However underneath this celebration lay a continual battle for equity for woman in South Africa and the rest of the world.

Worldwide, slightly less than half of all people living with HIV are female, whereas in South Africa females hold the disadvantage at 77% within the age bracket of 15-24 years old. The susceptibility of women to HIV infection stems from forced societal ignorance and more importantly disempowerment. A large majority of women contract HIV through their partner’s unfaithful high risk behavior. Society constrain the women to stay ignorant about sex, leaving the women without the tools to say “no” or the ability to understand the implications of their partner’s behavior. For women to have the courage to ask their male partner to use a condom even in known HIV positive cases is near impossible. In poor resourced areas, the possibility of losing their male partner and thus financial support outweighed the importance of contracting HIV. Even in the face of possible infection, the fear of societal and domestic violence prevents many women from accessing HIV information, from getting tested, and seeking treatment.

Moreover the A in the ABCs (First Abstinence, Birth Control, and then Condom) of HIV prevention is of minimal help to many young women. Multiple studies across Africa have shown that a female being faithful to a male in a marriage actually increases the chance HIV infection compared to sexually active unmarried females.

Driven by poverty and the desire for a better life, the young women prefer much older men, particularly married men. Consequently these older married men are more likely to have had multiple sex partners. In addition, the risk of becoming infected during unprotected vaginal intercourse is greater for women than men, and the risk for young girls is greatest because the lining of the neck of the womb is not fully developed. Recent studies show some evidence that the age gap between partners affects the chances that young women will become infected.