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Sexual Health Exchange, 1996 - no. 1 Zambia Zambia has experienced considerable economic decline over the past few decades. This has led to considerable hardship in both urban and rural areas. Zambian youth and women are particularly at risk from the consequent high crime rate, rape, teenage pregnancy, commercial sex, abortion and HIV/STDs. Further, their health is heavily dependent on major risk behaviours including unprotected casual sex and the use of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. Their rights to education, social support, health information and legal protection therefore need to be emphasized, especially within the context of HIV/AIDS programmes.
A lack of challenging experiences and job opportunities lead many young people to undesirable means of gaining pleasure. Pressures vary in urban and rural areas, but in both situations adolescents may feel deeply frustrated with their lives, many being unemployed or driven into early marriage. A 1992 Demographic and Health Survey found that, by 19 years of age, 75% of girls are either mothers or pregnant. Early motherhood significantly worsens women's socio-economic position, particularly if they are not married. Pregnant schoolgirls must leave school and may be rejected by their families, often ending up on the street in commercial sex work. Cultural and economic factors affect males and females in different ways. While boys experience considerable pressure to become providers for the family, girls are the most at risk and suffer the most serious consequences through sexual activity. Zambian society is patriarchal, and worsening economic conditions in the country have impacted most heavily on women and girls. Girls are brought up to be subservient to men, a training that does not build a sense of self-esteem or individuality. They are taught to ensure that they please men sexually, for instance by stretching the labia minora and using vaginal drying agents regardless of the extra risk of infection the latter may incur. It is culturally unacceptable for women to control sexual relations or to negotiate safer sex, particularly in the case of wives. Sexual abuse occurs in the home, the school and the street. Young girls are often sought out by older men ("sugar daddies"), sometimes because they are thought to be free of infections or sometimes because a man believes sex with a young girl will cure STDs or protect against HIV. These factors, and cultural practices such as polygamy, early marriage, wife inheritance and ritual sexual cleansing of widows, make young women especially vulnerable.
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Zambia addresses the above-mentioned needs of young people and women through a series of programmes and activities. In February 1993, concerned by increasing reports of HIV transmission via rape and sexual violence, they joined with other women's groups in a campaign demanding government action. The YWCA helped a member of Parliament draft a members' motion on rape and mobilized women's groups to attend the parliamentary sessions when debate on it took place. The YWCA already had a Drop-in Centre but recognized more resources were needed to deal with the growing problems of wife battering and rape. They therefore established a shelter for women in distress in Lusaka in July 1993. Referrals to the shelter take place via the Drop-in Centre; from September 1994 to September 1995, 601 women were assisted in issues related to property grabbing (229 cases), child abuse (7 cases), family disputes and child abuse. The shelter was built to house eight people but is usually filled to more than capacity (15 women and children), providing both HIV-positive and -negative women who have suffered violence with a safe refuge. Advocacy related to violence and HIV/STDs is further pursued by the YWCA through sensitization of law enforcement officers and the judiciary on gender issues; reaching out to policy-makers through channels such as television and radio programmes; publication of a newsletter called Voice of Women; focus-group discussions at workplaces and awareness campaigns using drama shows, billboards, T-shirts and posters. YWCA's Peer Education Programme for Out-of-School Youth will expand its current activities in sex education through a new multi-purpose Adolescent Health and Development Resource Centre. Activities at the centre will include peer counselling, monitoring of programmes, recreation, and a resource library. This centre is a pilot project in one Lusaka neighbourhood; it will eventually expand into other areas of Lusaka and elsewhere in the country. There are encouraging signs that more women are beginning to stand up for their rights as a result of the YWCA's activities. Newspaper articles are beginning to provide more coverage of rape and other abuse of women, and on women's vulnerability to infection, early pregnancy and other problems. HIV has been a significant factor in promoting this development, but there is still far to go and much opposition exists to promoting greater gender equality. However, organizations such as the YWCA are reaching an increasing number of people while encouraging other groups to help address the problems. Felicia Sakala, Women's Human Rights Coordinator, YWCA Council of Zambia, P.O. Box 50115, Nationalist Road, 15101 Lusaka, Zambia; Tel: 260-1-254-751; Fax: 260-1-223-721 |
The YWCA organizes focus-group discussions regarding the double standards that make women more vulnerable to HIV/STDs and human rights abuses
Women mobilized by the YWCA in Zambia have campaigned the government to address rape in the context of HIV/AIDS |
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