Blog 9

According to a project by the UN called "Africa Renewal," HIV/AIDS infection in Africa is clearly gendered. One of their statistics is: of all people age 15-24 years who have HIV/AIDS in Africa, three quarters of them are women. They provide a few interesting theories as to why such a gender difference exists in the infection rates, and each possible reason reflects the gender bias in many Sub-Saharan African cultures.

One interesting reason they propose for the gendered nature of HIV/AIDS infection rates has to do with "sugar daddies." Like in many other third-world countries, women in Africa are treated as second-class citizens. Many of them cannot own land and cannot make even half of the wages that men make at their jobs, so it is very hard to provide for their families. Older men who are well-established may often be able to help a single young woman provide for herself and/or her children. He may request that she have sex with him in exchange for his help, or she may even offer sex herself. These "sugar daddies" may be "helping" more than one woman at once, or may "help" many women over the course of their years, so it is easy for the disease to be passed around. The young women then pass the disease to any future sex partners, and possibly their children, and the cycle continues.

One of the suggested methods of intervention has to do with education. There is a need to educate young African women about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted. But this type of "intergenerational transactional sex," as the website puts it, is fueled by poverty. More specifically, it is fueled by the poverty of African women. Although there are many poor men, their status as men provides them with opportunities not available to women.

Not only are more women in Africa affected with HIV/AIDS than men, but they also continue to face poorer conditions after contracting the disease. To begin with, many prevention programs are directed at men affected with HIV/AIDS, and women often do not have the access to the treatments & care-giving that men do.

What is the answer to this problem? The UN suggests sustained economic development, including a focus on opportunities for women, and education.