Women and health
When it comes to women and health, a paradox has first to be pointed out: even if women tend to live longer than men, they report more illness and distress. Approaching healthcare from a gendered standpoint is important since both sexes do not cope the same way with it. This rule applies for chronic health problems to more concerning diseases. In 2007, 30.8 million adults worldwide were living with AIDS (Avert, 2009). Among them, half were women and 98% were living in developing countries. Because of women’s vulnerability, both social and biologic, women and AIDS is a concerning issue. It took a long time for international organizations to consider the case of this pandemic in developing countries and the reasons for that can be wondered. From a pessimistic point of view, more than empathy, it might be the fear of Western countries to see the disease spreading in the rest of the world. The pharmaceutical lobbies play an important role since they sometimes argue that patent rights are superior to patient’s rights. The drama Yesterday (Roodt, 2004) tells the story of a South African woman who find out that she is HIV positive and have to struggle with family issues, environment and poverty. It raises the awareness of the public, especially on the fact that support rather than stigmatization should be the attitude toward sick people. Having introduced the subject , this film will lead us to evaluate and comment it.
Sexual violence, difficulties to find condoms or lack of education play a role in the spread of the disease. Illiteracy rates leads women to have a low self-esteem; they say yes to sex and yes to the HIV. Ill women are victims more than guilts even if some religions tend to consider AIDS as a punishment. But through history, women have often be judged as responsible for the spread of venereal diseases. During World War II, in America, soldiers were warned: “She might look clean but… pick-ups, “good time” girls, prostitutes, spread syphilis and gonorrhea”. In the film Yesterday, the woman is beaten up when her husband finds out that she has AIDS even if it is suggested that he was probably responsible since she has always been faithful. Countries have different policies regarding the way they deal with illness and gender. To reduce the burden of the epidemic among women, several things can be done. Education, international organizations and governments can all play an important role. WOZA (Women in Zimbabwe arise) or UNIFEM (Women’s fund at the United nations) are two examples of organizations that are already active in a wide range of fields. To avoid misconceptions, it is very important as individuals to learn more about AIDS and even to be active to change our sights. Education can lead people to understand more about the issue, to get rid of some of their fears and as a result to stop considering sick people as outsiders. Especially women should get more attention since they are usually responsible of children. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is not addressed in the film Yesterday even if Beauty might be contaminated by the virus as well.
Watching a movie such as Yesterday makes the people more sensitive to the issue of AIDS in South Africa because, far from the rationality of statistics, it displays emotions. In some African countries where there is only a poor education, a lot of dangerous myths lead people to have sex with a virgin to cure their disease, to wash their genitals with products that they think will protect them from the virus, or to exclude an ill person from a village because the inhabitants are afraid to be contaminated. But even in Western countries, there are still a lot of misconceptions about AIDS. Those are sometimes used in a second time to stigmatize ethnic minorities, drug users or homosexuals. Women should realize that they have the right to say yes to safe sex as much as they have the right to say no to diseases. Venereal diseases can all be painful and dangerous. On a different scale, it is thought-provoking to point out that the lack of lubrication of the vagina, resulting from a lack of excitation, can lead to the development of the candida albicans, i.e. thrush. Women should remember as well that intercourse is not the only form of sex and that they can enjoy other practices that are even sometimes safer than reproductive so called traditional sex.
References:
AVERT. (2009). Women, HIV and AIDS.Retrieved 11.03.09 from AVERT website: http://www.avert.org/women.htm
Howden, D. (2006). Dead by 34: How Aids and starvation condemn Zimbabwe’s women to early grave. Retrieved 11.03.09 from The Independant website: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/dead-by-34-how-aids-and-starvation-condemn-zimbabwes-women-to-early-grave-424669.html
International women’s health coalition. (2009). Retrieved 11.03.09 from IWHC website: http://www.iwhc.org/
National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) – March 10, 2009. (2009). Retrieved 11.03.09 from Women’s health website: http://www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/
Roodt, D. (2004). Yesterday. KwaZulu-Natal: Distant Horizon.
UNIFEM. (2008). Transforming the National AIDS Response: Mainstreaming gender equality and women’s human rights into the “three ones”. New-York: UNIFEM.
