As a new international development agenda is finalised this year, policymakers must do more to address the link between violence against women and their vulnerability to HIV infection.
As the UN goes through the process of setting the post-2015 development agenda, the link between violence against women and girls and their vulnerability to HIV infection means that policymakers must do more to address this issue.
Around the world one in three girls and women will be beaten, coerced into sex or abused in their lifetime. And there is increasing recognition that violence is both a cause and consequence of HIV transmission. Research indicates that vulnerability to HIV among women who have experienced sexual violence may be up to three times higher than among those who have not.
Intimate partner violence
According to the World Health Organization the most common perpetrators of violence against women are male intimate partners or ex-partners.
In the United States, the 2010 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national survey on intimate partner sexual violence reports that more than one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence, or stalking, by a current or former intimate partner.
Women and girls who are facing violence often live in a kind of ‘open jail’. The fact is that even when women are beaten and assaulted, they may choose to stay with the perpetrator. This is often because they depend economically on their husbands or other male relatives. Other reasons include love for the perpetrator and their children, ties and vows made to the families and cultural or religious reasons.
Living in silence
The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) organised an event in Dearbon, Michigan to raise awareness on domestic violence in which women survivors gave testimonies. The event caught the attention of many elected officials, community activists and donors from Detroit Metropolitan area and Michigan. Among them was Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, who spoke of her personal experience of violence.
Dingle said: “I lived in domestic violence as a child, I loved my Dad and it was really hard for me to understand how my family could be victim of violence from the person I truly loved. We kept silent as we didn’t know who to turn to.”
Christina Mouawia, a woman from the community, said: “I didn’t know what to do. He was my sweetheart from high school. I kept quiet because I was ashamed. I stayed because I had nowhere to go, I didn’t want to leave my children and I loved him. I lived in silence, being subjected to all kinds of abuse, for ten years. I used to feel that I am the problem, I am bad and that I needed to change but things kept getting worse.”
Dr Azizah al-Hibri, founder and chair for Muslim Women for Human Rights, said: “Women living in domestic violence are isolated from the world. They suffer in silence as they feel ashamed and they don’t know who to turn to.”
Hard to negotiate safe sex
There are similarities in the stories of women living in domestic violence: shame and feelings of being unworthy; limited social economic status; fear of speaking out; and the fact that the violence is committed by a loved one.
These factors work together to put women in a powerless condition. This contributes to new HIV infections by making it hard for women to negotiate safe sex and get access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services.
As the United Nations sets the new development goals for the next 15 years, it’s high time to influence policymakers. Ending violence against women and girls – whether that be from known perpetrators or strangers – must be a top priority for the post-2015 agenda.
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