Spotlight on women & children
SAMANTHA: My name is Samantha. I’m 34 years old and I’m HIV positive. It’s been two years now that I’ve been HIV positive. You know, when I found out that I was HIV positive is when I was pregnant with my only son, who is now 14 months old. It was very difficult for me when I found out that I was positive because I was a very old-fashioned young woman. I didn’t believe in sex before marriage. I only had one boyfriend. So, it came as a shock to me when my results came out positive, you know.
KHOPOTSO: Jabulile Ngwenya is 17 years old. Her story goes like this.
JABULILE NGWENYA: I found out this year (in) February just before my birthday that I am infected with HIV, which I got from my father who raped me several times last year until he was arrested in October’¦ I can’t say that it’s because he believed that sleeping with a virgin can cure you because he was always so abusive. He used to hit my mother before my mother passed away’¦ He did it. I don’t know for what reason, but he just did it.
KHOPOTSO: Two completely different experiences, but fuelled by one common underlying cause: the false belief that males are superior to females and that men have the right to control and dictate to women. Earlier this year, South Africa welcomed the adoption of a Sexual Rights Charter, which enshrines the rights of women to control their sexual and reproductive health. Zanele Hlatshwayo is Programme Manager for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights at the Women’s Health Project, one of eight organisations responsible for the development of the Charter.
ZANELE HLATSHWAYO: The campaign was born out of (the) Beijing Conference paragraph 96, which defines sexual rights as women’s rights to have control over – and decide freely and responsibly, on matters related to their sexual and reproductive health ‘ free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Paragraph 96 strongly advocates for shared responsibility between men and women and calls for mutual respect in sex-related matters and consequences.
KHOPOTSO: The same principle guides World AIDS Day 2004, which has placed a strong emphasis on involving men in activities aimed at reducing the spread of HIV infection. The annual UNAIDS-WHO report tracking the epidemic, which was released on Wednesday, reiterates the well-known factor: The face of AIDS is young and female. The report points out that in sub-Saharan Africa three-quarters of all 15-24 year olds infected with HIV are female. To address this situation there is a consensus that prevention and remedial efforts should involve men at all levels. A movement in that direction has been growing in South Africa in the last few years, with organisations like the South African Men’s Forum being set up. Mbuyiselo Botha is co-ordinator of the initiative.
MBUYISELO BOTHA: There are no easy answers and there are no easy solutions. That is why we have to persevere’¦ because you’re talking of a history of men who have never been exposed to things such as love (and) compassion. Now, suddenly we’re trying to re-invent or to change the wheel’¦ I must say, you know, that it’s going to be not a short-term thing’¦ And all we have to do – all of us – is to say that men must not be viewed as only perpetrators and be demonised. But they must also be taken on board, so that they can realise that it’s important for them to be part of this global change to stop HIV/AIDS and violence against women.
KHOPOTSO: But while a focus on making men agents for change on a personal level is great, it’s equally important, particularly on the African continent, to review laws and cultural practices that deny women the right to earn a living, the right to adequate education, the right to inheritance and property rights. This is a responsibility that should extend into the lives of each one of us well beyond World AIDS Day 2004.
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Spotlight on women & children
by Khopotso Bodibe, Health-e News
November 26, 2004