Washington DC Adult Entertainment: Gender Finally Moving to Forefront of AIDS Fight
Written on July 8, 2009 – 3:13 pm | by larrylibido
… How can a program succeed in preventing mother-to-child infection if such gender-based violence, stigma, discrimination, and unequal access to resources all aspects of gender inequality prevent such women from openly taking the medicine they are given?” wrote Oomman in a Huffington Post editorial on Jun. 30.
Lack of women’s access to education can also be a major contributor to the spread of AIDS. Karen Hardee of Population Action International cited the figure that for every year of education a woman receives, she has a 7 percent decreased risk of HIV infection.
Gender norms also make HIV transmission to women happen more easily.
“Gender norms often limit women and girls’ ability to negotiate the limits of their sexual behavior,” noted Kim Ashburn, a gender, HIV and AIDS scientist at ICRW.
Societies in which men view forced sexual intercourse as acceptable, women engage in commercial sex work, or women are not able to negotiate safer sex will naturally have elevated HIV-transmission rates.