Abstract
Gender power imbalances and HIV are concerns that affect women globally. Social workers are ethically committed to help people affected with HIV and thereby promote gender equality. Although the literature has documented the nexus between gender imbalances and HIV, scant research explores these problems concurrently within the social work profession. Drawing on the resource theory and gender and power theory, this article undertook a qualitative exploratory to gain insights into women's perspectives on gender power imbalances as a risk factor for HIV transmission in rural communities of Ngaka Modiri Molema District, North West Province. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants while data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings demonstrate that unequal power relations between men and women in intimate relationships negatively affect women’s lives in diverse ways. This gendered impact of HIV infections for women remains intact due to the rooted gender norms that limit their ability to protect themselves against risky sexual behavior by their male partners. Disclosure of one's status remains a complex stigma attached to HIV. Social work empowerment interventions that seek to enhance equality in intimate relationships are recommended.
Highlights
AND BACKGROUND INFORMATIONHuman Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and gender power imbalances are critical issues confronting intimate relationships globally. Hatcher, Tsai and Kumbakumba (2012) assert that gender-based power imbalances within intimate relationships negatively affect women's sexual, reproductive, physical, and mental health
They offered their views on the experiences and connection between HIV and intimate partner violence and how HIV testing was negotiated in such relationships
A diversity of factors seems to contribute to the spread of HIV among women in intimate relationships
Summary
AND BACKGROUND INFORMATIONHuman Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and gender power imbalances are critical issues confronting intimate relationships globally. Hatcher, Tsai and Kumbakumba (2012) assert that gender-based power imbalances within intimate relationships negatively affect women's sexual, reproductive, physical, and mental health. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and gender power imbalances are critical issues confronting intimate relationships globally. Hatcher, Tsai and Kumbakumba (2012) assert that gender-based power imbalances within intimate relationships negatively affect women's sexual, reproductive, physical, and mental health. An increasing body of evidence demonstrates how unequal levels of power between men and women in intimate relationships prevent women, including women living with HIV, from making informed decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health (Fransisco, Abramsky, Kiss, Michau, Musuya, Kerrigans, Kaye & Watt, 2013; Shattuck, Burke, Ramirez, Succop, Costenbader, Attafuah, Mndeme, Mbwambo, & Guest, 2013; Robinson, Naraimhan, Amin, Morse, Beres, Yeh, 2017; Closson, Ndungu, Beksinska, Ogilvie, Dietrich, Gadermann, Gibbs, Nduna, Smit, Gray, & Kaida, 2019). For 2018, an estimated 13,1% of the total population was HIV positive, and approximately one-fifth of South African women aged between 15 and 49 years were HIV positive (Statistics South Africa, 2017). Since the discovery of the HIV pandemic, the issue of power differences between men and women in HIV has taken on a multifaceted status in addressing the pandemic
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