Violence Against South African Women and the Spread of Aids

Introduction Terrible, destructive synergy exists between the pervasiveness of HIV in South Africa and the prevalence of sexual crimes against the women there. Because of the cross-culturally observable, strong traditional beliefs about gender roles among South African men, women experience adversity in their efforts to avoid infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (Glick et al., 2000). Historically, the fight for human rights and the conflicts among political groups have given rise to civil unrest; now that a higher standard of personal freedom has been achieved, it is appropriate that gender equality should be cultivated as well. This paper is intended to show that a strange relationship exists between democratic freedom and gender inequality in South Africa (in the sense that the patriarchal society would view government intervention for the protection of women as an infringement on the personal freedom of the men who dominate them), and that prevention through education is the best and most efficient way for the U.N. to help Africa in the fight against AIDS. The most prevalent form of violence against women, domestic violence, remains a relatively obscure and ignored issue in reproductive health research and training. In countries like South Africa, with a high prevalence of HIV, extremely high rates of rape and other forms of violence against women are documented, and they may play an important role in causing women 's greater vulnerability to HIV infection. It is important to consider the rates of infection for Africa as a whole, because all the countries are affected, but particularly in South Africa, the rates are extremely high. Moreover, the prevalence of violence against women continues to grow.

Great Changes in Recent History
Great changes took place in Africa at the end of 1989 as Namibia, which had been occupied by South Africa, received its independence as the result of the first all-race national election. Communism was

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