Glenda Simms, Contributor
FEMINIST SCHOLARS and leaders have spent much of their energy convincing women that biology need not be their destiny, and that in every aspect of human endeavour, women and girls need to have choices if they are to free themselves from definitions that are oppressive, limiting and inhumane.
If ever there was a time for women to demand choices, it is now. The worldwide picture of women and girls is still dismal in many areas. In the United Nations Population Report of 2000, it was reported that worldwide, every minute, 380 women have pregnancies, half of which are unplanned; 110 women experience a pregnancy-related complication; 100 women have an abortion, 40 per cent of which are unsafe and every minute a woman dies from a pregnancy-related cause.
All these statistics are attributable to the resistance to affording women their human rights within patriarchal systems. The system of patriarchy forces us to question the role of socialisation, the role of culture and the resultant societal values and norms, which predispose women and girls to become the victims of various social, psychological and physical illnesses.
It is very evident that women, because of their social status, are victims of all forms of gender-based violence that put them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies, mental illness and untimely death. And what is even more tragic, is the realisation that grinding poverty and women's unequal access to resources exacerbate the many problems that women face worldwide.
In discussing the link between the patriarchal system and the situation of many Jamaican women in relationship to their vulnerability to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I would like to raise the issues of powerlessness in relationships, economic dependency and low self-esteem. All of these I link to patriarchy.
POWERLESSNESS IN MALE/FEMALE RELATIONSHIP
Patriarchy literally means the rule of the father. It is the system through which men dominate women, using power to keep women subordinated. Through this system of patriarchy, men control the labour, property, fertility, sexuality, mobility, mind and emotions of women.
Patriarchy is propagated through the institutions, which we value highly in our society the family, the schools, the media houses, the justice system, the religious institutions, the workplace and the political directorate.
While we have been able through legal reforms, consciousness-raising and the sheer tenacity of courageous Jamaican women, to alter many of the forces that have traditionally dominated our lives, we must admit that it is in the area of our sexuality that we continue to be dominated, defined and ultimately oppressed. The societal need to control women's sexuality must be part of any discussion on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
We must admit that here in Jamaica, as in other parts of the world, the spread of the HIV infection is more than a biological phenomenon. It is indeed a social and gender-based problem. Women and girls in many countries including Jamaica are still unable to negotiate safe sex or condom use, whether they are in a married relationship, a monogamous relationship, or a multi-partnered relationship. For this reason they continue to be vulnerable.
For instance, the lack of personal autonomy in many marriages is an issue worth discussing. Novia Condell of the Ministry of Health is reported in the Outlook Magazine of April 20 to have stated that "marriage is not a safe haven against sexually transmitted diseases." This is a profoundly frightening reality because marriage is the one institution that gives a woman automatic and instant respectability. It is the hub of the nuclear family and it is defined in Christian theology as a "sacred union". In spite of this belief, the institution of marriage is challenged by the following factors.
One out of every two Jamaican men have more than one sexual partner.
Sexually-transmitted infections (STI) and HIV are among the leading cause of death in the female 20 to 29 years population.
Much higher percentage of men in the 20 to 29 and the 30 to 39 age groups have multiple sexual partners.
The percentage of multi-partnered women in these age bands is much lower.
Obviously amongst these samples are significant numbers of married folk. It is therefore reasonable and sensible for such married couples to use condoms and practice other forms of safe sex.
SHAME
In societies which value fundamentalist religious energies raining down fire and brimstones on all forms of sex, except that which takes place in the institution of marriage, contracting HIV and other STIs is the ultimate shame for a married woman. In fact, many women are aware that their husbands are participating in risky sexual behaviours, and they cannot protect themselves against infection because of their lack of social, economic and psychological power.
Within this mode, women are still not able to refuse unprotected intercourse with men because they either fear physical bodily harm or serious emotional trauma. This kind of unequal relationship is reflected in Dr. Peter Figueroa's 2001 findings that reveal that 24 per cent of Jamaican men and 34 per cent of Jamaican women do not use a condom with a non-regular partner.
Obviously then the over representation of women in the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a direct consequence of the powerlessness of women and their resultant financial social and emotional dependence on the male of the species.
Because the role of women in society has been so rigidly tied to her reproductive function we need always to be reminded that when a woman's health is affected, the entire population is put at risk. Women's health status creates a multiplier effect on the wider society due to the diverse roles that women must play both in the private and public spheres. When a woman becomes afflicted with a disease, this disease does not affect her alone. It affects the family of which she is integral and in some instances the sole income provider, and the society in which she serves as both formal and informal educator and health care provider, lover, mother, sister and friend.
WOMEN'S BURDEN
We need to always be mindful of the implication of the diseases that overwhelmingly affect women in our country. The Planning Institute of Jamaica informs us that women head 42.1 per cent of households. And that female-headed households comprise a larger mean household size at 3.8 persons compared to 3.2 persons per male-headed household. Furthermore, female-headed households are characterised by an absence of male/spouse and a prevalence of children. Because of these factors, Jamaican children are likely to be more at risk when their mothers become ill.
This situation is not unique to Jamaica, however. In fact, in some countries in Latin America, women head over 50 per cent of families, and in others, not less than 40 per cent. Notwithstanding, the myth of the male as provider and head of household continues. It permeates and guides contemporary policies and thinking, and oftentimes development planning, economic employment policies and cultural and religious strategies are based on this myth.
Another issue worth considering is that there is a certain socio-political reality that must be addressed in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is the attitude that there is a hierarchy of illnesses and we are predisposed to respond more positively and emphatically to killer diseases that are not contracted through sexual contact.
Historically women have been blamed for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. This myth persists in patriarchal and misogynistic societies even when the truth stares us in the face.
This myth conceals the fact that
"women are at greater risk in contracting an STD from a man than the other way around."
Research has shown that women are at a greater risk of contracting a STI from a man than the other way around. Many experts have discussed the biological susceptibility of women, particularly young women to contract STIs and have revealed that "a woman is eight times more likely than a man to contract HIV from one act of unprotected intercourse."
MASCULINITY: ITS ROLE IN WOMEN'S HEALTH STATUS
When Caribbean and Jamaica women activists and other thinkers broach the subject of the deconstruction of masculinity, there is usually a loaded silence in most salons. But we must break the silence and face the fact that traditional beliefs about manhood are strong psychological barriers to our efforts to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS.
Indeed I would like to argue that HIV/AIDS and other STIs will not be controlled or eradicated without a revision of the definition of manhood and masculinity?
These are complex and vexatious issues. If being a real man means that one has to be a sexual predator or conqueror of the feminine, then these diseases will increase.
In September 2000, John Stolember wrote an article entitled Of Microbes and Manhood. In his very sensitive discussion he cited a United States of America national survey of young men aged 15 to 19. This survey found that those who held more traditional beliefs about manhood were more likely to have unprotected sex and multiple sex partners.
Such traditional belief systems would subscribe to the following in the Jamaica context:
"A man must run tings"
"Man must not act like a girl"
"All a Woman need is a good man to..."
"Man must tough it out"
"A woman thing to go to the doctor"
Traditional manhood definition also includes the notion that man was born to rule, woman should keep her place and man must control not only sexual negotiation but sexual activity.
This predisposition of the masculine also subscribes to the notion that only penile-vaginal penetration is sex. This idea can be traced to early Judeo-Christian tenets in Leviticus, a text which is often quoted in many fundamentalist congregations. In addition to the situation amongst heterosexuals, research has shown that there is a significant crossover of sexual activity between and amongst men of differing sexual orientation. Women caught up in this sexual maze are extremely vulnerable to STIs.
In short, women need to take control of their lives not only on the economic and social levels, but on the level of the sexual. Indeed, women have created and fuelled a movement that has changed some of their traditional roles in the labour market and public life. But this is not enough. Men must change and women must insist on the needed changes if their lives are to be lived without fear.
HIV, with its killer instincts, of necessity forces us to open the bedroom doors and talk about the most private of private matters in a public way. We need to talk about the secrets and lies that texture all things sexual.
The challenge will be for the discussion to be open and honest enough to leave each individual with a sense of dignity and an understanding of operating in his/her personal space with responsibility.
There is a level of silence around HIV/AIDS which needs to be broken. The present public education programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Health and the media, will go some distance to end the silence and remove the shame around this disease.
But we need to do more. We need to revisit notions of masculinity. We need to talk about sex, not only in bed but also in public. We must confront backward thinking, negative attitudes towards sexuality and towards women.
To those who think sex is most appropriately carried on in the dark behind closed doors, I suggest that you take the first bold step for love, for health and for life turn on the lights.
Dr. Glenda Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
