07 Mar 2016

Research made by the Gender Affairs Department has shown that in Botswana, the HIV prevalence or incidence is higher in women than men because women are vulnerable to HIV than men both biologically and socially.

This was said by Mr Duncan Madiabaso from the Gender Affairs Department during a workshop held in Kachikau under the theme, A ithona a ile kgonnye recently. He said that Gender Based Violence (GBV) could be both a cause and a consequence of HIV and AIDS.

“Another cause of HIV and AIDS is the unequal power relationship between men and women, which places women at higher risk of contracting HIV,” he said.

The belief that men were more powerful than women and that they are heads of the family leaves women with no power to say out their feelings, disagree with or refuse unsafe sex. Mr Madiabaso stated that the greatest burden of HIV and AIDS is on women as they are traditionally the care takers of the families.

A gender affairs officer Ms Onneile Monna said women have a fear of physical abuse, hence they are not able to negotiate safer sex.

When they are in an abusive relationship, they are always afraid of saying out their feelings on sexual issues.

“In a domestic setting, physical violence is often accompanied by sexual abuse, making it difficult, if not impossible, to have safer sex,” she said.

She explained that if women insist on condom use, they are often perceived by their partners as having sexual affairs outside of the relationship and this leads to physical abuse. Ms Monna stated that violence could result in depression, fear, substance abuse and this could happen when the wife knows that her husband has multiple sexual partners, but when she asks him to practice safer sex and undergo an HIV test, he refuses.

Mr Madiabaso added that economic dependence on perpetrators hinders one from seeking help.

“Many women fear the possibility of being attacked once they reveal that they are HIV positive by partners, family, and community members.

 These attacks may be in the form of threats, stigmatism and physical abuse.” He said.

The Magistrate of Kasane, Mr Mpho Molema said they solve many cases of violence at their office and suggested that partners should seek guidance and counselling from both professionals and family members in order to reduce violence cases that mostly occur to women.

The acting Kachikau Police Station Commander Mogotsi Thelo explained that gender violence is a major concern in their district as it causes a lot of deaths and physical harm cases.

“We came together as public servants to stand against violence and hope that people realise it is bad and get to stop it,” he  said. Ends