Enabling Women to Fight HIV/AIDS

This document aims to encourage women in India to learn more about HIV/AIDS so that they might be empowered to brave social stigma, coming forward to discuss their health problems and find support groups. ActionAid India also seeks to draw attention to the gender-related issues at stake in addressing HIV/AIDS, thereby encouraging various organisations and individuals in India to find solutions through advocacy, social change, laws, and policy decisions. The report was released at the 4th West Bengal Sexual Health Conference in September 2003 in Kolkata.

To begin, the author cites 6 paths to empowerment, developed by UNAIDS. They include:

1. Combating ignorance - improving girls' access to education, information, and sex negotiation skills.
2. Providing women-friendly services - increasing women's access to healthcare that is appropriate, convenient, and approachable without embarrassment.
3. Developing female-controlled prevention methods - e.g., the female condom.
4. Building safer norms - supporting the efforts of women's groups to challenge - and educating boys and men to reject - behavioural traditions that put women at risk, such as tolerance of child abuse, rape, and sexual coercion.
5. Reducing vulnerability through policy change - protecting women's human rights and improving their economic independence and legal status (especially by garnering a greater political voice for women).

The report goes on to explore women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, linking it to biological, social, and economic factors (many of which are beyond women's control). According to the report, 25% of HIV infections in India occur in women: violence against women is a central cause of this trend. Deep-seated traditions "force women to accept sexual subordination". Further, social stigma and discrimination mean that many HIV-positive women in India are afraid to speak out about their condition. For those living in rural areas and thus dependent on family members for care and support, this silence can have dire consequences. Even if they themselves are not infected, many women become care givers for HIV-positive relatives whom they must also support financially. This situation forces many women into prostitution, further increasing their risk of contracting the disease.

Approaching this situation calls for efforts to involve the community in social change, that is, by empowering women through education and employment. The author describes this approach as follows: "Social mobilisation initiatives can motivate families to accept the fact that girls have as much of a right to a healthy, happy life as their brothers. Families must also realise that it is important to educate girls. An educated wife, daughter or daughter-in-law is an asset. Such women can become independent wage-earners. Non-formal education and vocational training will equip them to work for a living. As earning members, women's status will improve, both within their immediate families and in the community at large.

"Education holds the key to the empowerment of women and to containing the spread of HIV. It develops self-confidence and inculcates a feeling of solidarity with other women. It also motivates the start of community-based support and counselling activities. Many Non-Government Organisations and Community-Based Organisations are trying to help women form groups. By sharing experiences, talking about problems and trying to solve them together...communities can develop action plans to prevent the spread of HIV, encourage greater transparency in matters of sexual education and health, push for greater efficiency in the government infrastructure, and commitment in healthcare providers to improve basic services and healthcare delivery to HIV-Positive people".For a copy of the report in PDF format, contact Anuradha Bhattacharjee (Consultant, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta) anuradha@iimcal.ac.in or abhatt@cal3.vsnl.net.in