Violence: The Cause and Consequence of HIV in Many Girls

As campaigners pressed for action at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), ministers from Liberia, Zimbabwe and Ghana shed light on the reality of gender-based violence and HIV infections in their countries, saying that the link be made explicit in the event’s outcome document.

Ministers of some sub-Saharan countries urged activists to press their governments for the inclusion of effective measures to prevent violence and treat women who are infected with HIV through sexual abuse. Julia Duncan-Cassell, the gender minister of Liberia, said the CSW afforded a chance to lobby for action, noting that ‘Increasingly, violence is being recognised as a cause and consequence of HIV, and that’s important, particularly for women and girls.’

She continued in a passionate, if at times disturbing, discussion on HIV and sexual violence, ‘In sub-Saharan Africa, a region most severely affected, women constitute 60% of people living with HIV. Those aged between 15 and 24 are particularly vulnerable to infection, and in some settings infection rates are higher among young women than among young men. There is strong evidence to suggest gender inequality and violence in particularly play an important role in influencing vulnerability to HIV. Women who experience violence are more likely to contract HIV, and women living with it face higher rates of gender violence.’

Ghana’s gender minister Nana Oye Lithur, noted that whilst there is no data to prove that violence puts women’s wellbeing at risk of HIV, and vice versa, there is much anecdotal evidence to support this harrowing fact. For example, it is still common for women to be forced into marrying a brother-in-law if their husband dies, and the belief that a woman needs to have sex with a stranger to expel the disease of a dead husband still exist. These beliefs mean that women are stripped of power, and their wellness is at risk. Lithur said that HIV and gender violence are often tackled in isolation, and these strands need to be pulled together.

According to Thokozani Khupe, Zimbabwe’s deputy prime minister, education is of paramount importance, especially rural women. ‘In urban areas, women watch TV and read papers,’ but a rural woman is hard at work all day, and ‘if she has a husband, you know what happens.’ She added that the ‘game changers’ for these women are ‘clean water and sanitation … modern agricultural techniques, drip irrigation, solar power so she can have electricity.’

Khupe said that these changes mean ‘This woman is empowered to go to the clinic when she is pregnant, go to political meetings, health centres to find out about family planning. When a husband demands sex she can say let’s go for an HIV test or use condoms. She will go to the police if she is raped. Once you empower [women], issues of HIV and gender-based violence will be a thing of the past.’

Categories: Gender Discrimination, HIV, Violence

Discrimination in the Workplace Still Affects Women

The rise of feminism and women’s rights has produced some excellent results with women being taken more seriously and bridging the gap that has existed in society for a long time. But despite impressive improvements in recent years, not everything is as good as it seems. A major review of inequality in the UK has revealed that women face on-going discrimination in the workplace that hasn’t stopped even with advances in equality.

Specifically, it was revealed that a mother who has a partner and who has a child aged under the age of 11 is 45 percent less likely to be in work than a partnered man. This is a clear indication that inequality still holds back too many individuals from realising their potential in the working environment.

The report revealed the surprising truth that women with young children face more discrimination in the workplace than disabled people or those from ethnic minorities. The survey looked at 122 recruitment agencies, and amazingly more than 70 percent of them had been asked by clients to avoid pregnant women or women of childbearing age.

Another fact from the report was that disabled people were 29 percent less likely to be employed than non-disabled people. Also, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women were around 30 percent less likely to be employed than white women with similar ages and qualifications.

The report, however, has revealed a crucial overall truth that is not only people from a minority background or with disabilities that face workplace discrimination – but women in general. The unemployment of women costs the UK an estimated £28bn a year.

It shows that authorities need to do more to ensure that women are treated fairly and that employers are not allowed to discriminate in the way that they have. This will be a long process but it is hoped that women will soon gain equality with men in the working environment.

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Discrimination in the Workplace Still Affects Women

Categories: Gender Discrimination, mothers, Women

Gender Discrimination: The Silent Killer of Women Worldwide

According to the latest UN reports, around 800 women die every day during pregnancy and childbirth, and for each of these deaths, another the wellbeing of another 20 is affected by lifelong suffering due to injury, infection, disease or disabilities stemming from pregnancy, childbirth or an unsafe abortion. Human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, say that the entrenched gender discrimination of countries around the world leads to these catastrophic wellness consequences.

‘From Indonesia to Peru, Sierra Leone to the USA, millions of women and girls are paying with their lives for failed health policies, inadequate care, and discriminatory laws. Many face discrimination and violence in their communities and families, with little or no hope of justice or support from governments,’ said Marianne Mollmann, senior policy advisor at Amnesty International.

There are many countries in which women and girls cannot, or struggle to, access basic reproductive and sexual health services and information. Sometimes this is because governments fail to invest their resources or make this a priority, but in other cases there are health services that exist, only they are concentrated in more affluent areas, restricting access for many women who live too far away or cannot afford the cost of getting there.

Even when they do reach the health centres, Amnesty International found that, even in the USA, women who live in poverty are sometimes ill-treated by staff members who don’t understand their needs or speak their language. According to Mollmann, ‘Every year millions of women and girls face almost insurmountable barriers to accessing the most basic health care, in particular when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health. They are consistently denied access to information, contraceptives, emergency obstetrics services, and even remedies for substandard care.’ She added, ‘The tragic reality is that many deaths and injuries connected with pregnancy and childbirth can be prevented.’

She continued, ‘These past decades, we have seen increased investment in prenatal care, in particular. And while that leads to necessary improvements in infant care, it does little to tackle underlying inequalities in access to health information and care. Women obviously have healthcare issues that are unrelated to childbirth. The fact is that governments are reluctant to prevent discrimination and remedy abuse.’

A UN Programme of Action was adopted two decades ago, and representatives of UN member states will gather again in 2014 to review its progress on the Programme of Action adopted two decades earlier in Cairo. Mollmann explained, ‘We hope this review will help move these issues forward. Our demands are basic – everybody should be able to make independent and informed decisions about their health, bodies, and lives, and live free from violence. As a minimum, this requires access to comprehensive sexuality education for all.’

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Gender Discrimination: The Silent Killer of Women Worldwide

Categories: Education, Gender Discrimination, women's health