Gender Inequality and the HIV Epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa
This commentary was published in the Kingston Whig Standard on Friday May 18, 2007
Just a few more thoughts before I leave this beautiful country. As always, your feedback is welcome!
I have been living and volunteering my skills as a physician in Tanzania, East Africa for long enough now to begin to understand how lucky I am, as a woman, to have been born in Canada. My colleagues at home will attest to the fact that I often complain about how difficult it can be to be a woman working in the field of medicine. I often harp on the challenges that women physicians face as they struggle to develop academic careers, care for patients, and, raise children. Those challenges are no less important now and are still very much a part of my world back at home, however, my time here in Africa has provided me with a daily reminder of how lucky I really am. Sure, I have faced challenges along the way but these pale in comparison to the reality that women and girls must face everyday in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You see, women in Tanzania, and in most countries in Africa do not enjoy the basic human right to equality. From the day a girl child is born into most African families, hers is an uphill struggle to be a child, rather than work, to become literate and educated like her male siblings, and, to be protected from gender-based violence. Girls in Tanzania are kept impoverished by a society where they are married off at an early age, and, forced to give birth when their bodies are not ready to become mothers. Women in Tanzania are born to be someone’s daughter, sister, wife, and, mother. Their value in this society is often judged by how many children they can produce within a marriage; or face abandonment if they can’t.
Despite their low status in this society, women are the backbone of this nation; they cook, clean, work in the fields to feed their families, and, care for elderly parents or relatives. They will walk for miles to fetch water; usually with one of their children slung to their back. Despite their essential roles, they suffer from greater illiteracy, poverty and sexual abuse than their male counterparts, and, significantly higher rates of HIV infection.
Indeed, women in Tanzania have made great strides over the last three decades as awareness has been raised and laws have been modified to protect them from gender inequality. That being said, tradition and custom that affords men distinct power and privilege over women continues to prevail in most communities especially in regions of the country that are largely rural and where both men and women remain poorly educated. No written law can protect a woman from having her land stolen by male relatives or male neighbors after a her husband has died or abandoned her, when customary law (what has always been) dictates that she is not really a person and therefore cannot keep the land that the law states is rightfully hers. Land rights violations here in Tanzania are a metaphor for a vast number of problems that women in Africa face but, they have recently come to the forefront of the women’s rights discourse as the issue has become increasingly common in the face of the HIV epidemic that is still gripping sub-Saharan Africa. Not only are these women negatively impacted by gender inequality throughout their lives, but this inequity has clear and destructive disadvantages for their children, often disproportionately affecting their female children who may share a larger burden in caring for siblings, parents or grandparents.
How can this inequality be reduced? The answers are not simple. Improving the status of women in countries such as Tanzania will take generations. From the day that children are born here they are socialized to accept that men hold the power and make the decisions. Change will require massive shifts in the way that Africans live and think about the status of women. Moreover, women themselves will need to alter the way that they see themselves in African society; with roles in all levels of government and business. Do I feel hopeful that things can and will change for Africa’s women? My answer is a definite yes; especially now after spending several months trying to better understand Tanzania’s remarkable, and, incredibly resilient, women. In many ways, they have been a source of ongoing strength for me. More importantly, I feel even more deeply that things must change. I and others believe that HIV infection rates will continue to rise, largely unabated, across most countries in Africa until women no longer face the current level of gender inequality. It will not occur until women are empowered in the relationships they hold with men. Unless they play a more equal role they will continue to lack the ability to effectively protect themselves against HIV infection. Simply put, true societal change, and, successful empowerment of women will only occur when both men and women in Tanzania believe that gender inequality is unacceptable for what it is; a violation of a person’s basic human rights.
Just a few more thoughts before I leave this beautiful country. As always, your feedback is welcome!
I have been living and volunteering my skills as a physician in Tanzania, East Africa for long enough now to begin to understand how lucky I am, as a woman, to have been born in Canada. My colleagues at home will attest to the fact that I often complain about how difficult it can be to be a woman working in the field of medicine. I often harp on the challenges that women physicians face as they struggle to develop academic careers, care for patients, and, raise children. Those challenges are no less important now and are still very much a part of my world back at home, however, my time here in Africa has provided me with a daily reminder of how lucky I really am. Sure, I have faced challenges along the way but these pale in comparison to the reality that women and girls must face everyday in Sub-Saharan Africa.
You see, women in Tanzania, and in most countries in Africa do not enjoy the basic human right to equality. From the day a girl child is born into most African families, hers is an uphill struggle to be a child, rather than work, to become literate and educated like her male siblings, and, to be protected from gender-based violence. Girls in Tanzania are kept impoverished by a society where they are married off at an early age, and, forced to give birth when their bodies are not ready to become mothers. Women in Tanzania are born to be someone’s daughter, sister, wife, and, mother. Their value in this society is often judged by how many children they can produce within a marriage; or face abandonment if they can’t.
Despite their low status in this society, women are the backbone of this nation; they cook, clean, work in the fields to feed their families, and, care for elderly parents or relatives. They will walk for miles to fetch water; usually with one of their children slung to their back. Despite their essential roles, they suffer from greater illiteracy, poverty and sexual abuse than their male counterparts, and, significantly higher rates of HIV infection.
Indeed, women in Tanzania have made great strides over the last three decades as awareness has been raised and laws have been modified to protect them from gender inequality. That being said, tradition and custom that affords men distinct power and privilege over women continues to prevail in most communities especially in regions of the country that are largely rural and where both men and women remain poorly educated. No written law can protect a woman from having her land stolen by male relatives or male neighbors after a her husband has died or abandoned her, when customary law (what has always been) dictates that she is not really a person and therefore cannot keep the land that the law states is rightfully hers. Land rights violations here in Tanzania are a metaphor for a vast number of problems that women in Africa face but, they have recently come to the forefront of the women’s rights discourse as the issue has become increasingly common in the face of the HIV epidemic that is still gripping sub-Saharan Africa. Not only are these women negatively impacted by gender inequality throughout their lives, but this inequity has clear and destructive disadvantages for their children, often disproportionately affecting their female children who may share a larger burden in caring for siblings, parents or grandparents.
How can this inequality be reduced? The answers are not simple. Improving the status of women in countries such as Tanzania will take generations. From the day that children are born here they are socialized to accept that men hold the power and make the decisions. Change will require massive shifts in the way that Africans live and think about the status of women. Moreover, women themselves will need to alter the way that they see themselves in African society; with roles in all levels of government and business. Do I feel hopeful that things can and will change for Africa’s women? My answer is a definite yes; especially now after spending several months trying to better understand Tanzania’s remarkable, and, incredibly resilient, women. In many ways, they have been a source of ongoing strength for me. More importantly, I feel even more deeply that things must change. I and others believe that HIV infection rates will continue to rise, largely unabated, across most countries in Africa until women no longer face the current level of gender inequality. It will not occur until women are empowered in the relationships they hold with men. Unless they play a more equal role they will continue to lack the ability to effectively protect themselves against HIV infection. Simply put, true societal change, and, successful empowerment of women will only occur when both men and women in Tanzania believe that gender inequality is unacceptable for what it is; a violation of a person’s basic human rights.
posted by karenandroman at 1:16 AM
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