Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - December 13, 2004
According to the new report's eye-opening analysis, AIDS is spreading quickly into the ranks of women - both single and married - in regions where AIDS is already well established. In sub-Saharan Africa, women 15 to 24 years old are three times as likely to be infected as men the same age. In Thailand, 90 percent of AIDS transmissions a decade ago occurred between sex workers and their clients. More recent estimates suggest that 50 percent of the new infections are occurring between spouses, as men who picked up AIDS from prostitutes pass it on to their wives.
The soaring infection rates among younger women are driven partly by social customs that require the women to remain ignorant of sex and sexuality until they marry. Indeed, Unaids researchers have found that a majority of young women in some nations have no idea how to protect themselves from H.I.V. The root problem, especially in many developing nations, is a pervasive gender inequality that keeps women from amassing capital, asserting their rights under the law or even deciding when to have sex. A staggering number of women reported that their first sexual experiences came as a result of rape.
Marginalized in the economy and under the law, women in developing nations are often left with sex as their only marketable resource. In some parts of Africa, older men who take young lovers commonly help the girl's family by paying for school fees and food. Young women who are bartered this way have no standing to refuse sex or ask their partners to use condoms. Marriage and fidelity offer little protection from disease for these women, who typically marry older men who have been sexually active for decades. In some areas, infection rates for young married women who remain faithful are actually higher than for single women not yet in permanent relationships.
AIDS education is crucial in fighting the epidemic. But information alone is not enough. Countries with entrenched epidemics need to enhance women's rights under the law and end retrograde traditions that make them second-class citizens. Only then can women hope to protect themselves.
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