HIV/AIDS and the position of women in Kenya
HIV and AIDS in Kenya
HIV prevalence in adults (15-49 years old) is approximately 6%. This percentage translates into roughtly one million people living with HIV/AIDS, and represents a 3% decline in prevalence since the late 1990s. More women are living with HIV than men, and the majority of new infections is occurring among young women aged 15-24.
The strongest reduction in prevalence has been among pregnant women in urban Kenya, dropping from approximately 28% in 1999 to 9% in 2003. But the decline in HIV prevalence has not been evident across the entire country. Prevalence at antenatal clinics in some areas, especially rural ones, range from 14% to 30%.
The drop in prevalence can probably be attributed to behavioural change. Condom use with casual partners has increased, especially among women. In 2003, almost 24% of women said they used a condom the last time they had casual sex, compared with 15% in 1998. The number of men and women with more than one sexual partner also went down by at least half in 1993-2003. And young men and women often delay having sex for the first time.
Position of women in Kenya
Some people say that, according to traditional culture, “by and large, women are still seen as property”. This view of women facilitates practices such as wife inheritance and widow cleansing, both of which have been cited as contributing factors to high HIV transmission. Wife inheritance is the practice of giving a widow in marriage to her deceased husband’s brother or other close relative. Widow cleansing is a practice that dictates that widows, who are considered "unclean", should have sex with a male relative of their deceased husband to purify themselves.
The view of women as property also facilitates violence against women. According to recent figures, more than 90% of all violence in Kenya is committed against women. Violence in the home is a serious problem. Figures from 2003 show at least half of all Kenyan women have experienced violence since the age of 15, with close family members among the perpetrators. Rape cases are steadily increasing, with one in every four women aged between 12 and 24 having sex for the first time through force.
The response to violence is weak: fear, inhibitions about discussing sexual matters, and discrimination on the part of the police keep women from reporting incidents; courts are ineffective; and facilities where abused women could seek assistance are largely unavailable, especially for women in rural areas.
President Kibaki recently introduced a new law that provides rape victims with free medical care and counselling in public institutions. It also broadens the definition of a sex crime, setting the minimum and maximum rape sentence at ten years and life imprisonment respectively. The new Sexual Offences Bill is a mixed blessing. However, as it includes a penalty of at least 15 years for “deliberate” transmission of HIV. Given the blame often put on women for supposedly “bringing HIV into the community”, it is possible that the law will only serve to increase HIV and AIDS-related discrimination and violence against women.
There has been no improvement in the legal climate for women at a constitutional level. A new constitution that would have provided for some positive changes in respect to discrimination against women was rejected by a referendum in November 2005. The current Kenyan constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, but allows for discrimination in family matters. For example, the Kenyan constitution gives equal status to four systems of marriage: civil, Hindu, customary, and Islamic. These last two permit polygamous marriage and allow for very early marriage for girls. Under Islamic law, a marriage contract may be concluded by a guardian on behalf of a child below the age of puberty.
The Constitution also stipulates that, under certain conditions, civil law does not govern inheritance of agricultural land, crops or livestock. Under customary law, some communities do not grant wives and daughters ownership of land or livestock. As a result, women rarely inherit land, livestock or other property in rural areas. Indeed, women own only 5% of the land in Kenya. Yet many more women than men are subsistence farmers.
