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Du er her: Hjem → Om Oss → Politisk debatt
Marit Nybakk: Innlegg på FNs sesjon om HIV/Aids.
"Making the response to AIDS work for women and girls – Gender equality and AIDS.
Let me first underline the brutal facts: The AIDS epidemic is not gender neutral. AIDS is becoming a feminine disease. In Africa south of Sahara 61 % of those who are infected are women. If we look at the age group 15-24 years old in Southern Africa, between 3 and 6 times as many women compared to men have HIV/AIDS. There are biological reasons for this, but also sex patterns and sex routines. Young girls are particularly vulnerable. We also see that relations between generations can lead to an escalation of the epidemic.
One year ago I was in countries in Southern Africa with UN agencies, visiting projects trying to both prevent HIV/AIDS, but also give medical help to those infected. A nurse who treated young girls with AIDS looked me in the eyes and said: “The worst part is to tell them they are going to die”.
A woman in the countryside in Mozambique said: “We die quietly like sheep”.
A strong and brutal experience.
A strong and brutal reality.
But I found much optimism too. Health clinics financed by UN agencies were crowded by young girls and boys – who wanted information and contraceptives.
And we visited secondary schools where drama and music were used to teach the students why condoms are important.
We see that
• the unequal status of girls and women places them at a great risk of infection. The consequences of the epidemic is also felt particularly by women, as they have the main role as care persons, and as their rights to inheritance is often weak.
• We know that women who have been exposed to domestic violence have a higher risk of being HIV infected. This includes sexually based violence. And as I learned from health workers in Southern Africa. Prostitutes are better off than wives. Married women cannot tell their husbands to use condoms. Marriage can be a dangerous place to be for young women.
• The links between HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights is central in the response to HIV and AIDS. So far, however, the links are seldom reflected in the HIV and AIDS programmes. In relation to young people, we have a challenge in Norway linked to preventing transmission of sexually transmitted infections, and we all need to explore how to influence sexual behaviour in ways that respects the rights and autonomy of people, including young boys and girls.
• Norway is committed to the promotion of sexual and reproductive RIGHTS, as well as health. This includes providing education and other measures to enable young people to make informed choices in sex and sexuality.
• Gender is about how power is distributed, but it is also linked to relationships and sex roles, to how masculinity and femininity is perceived and practiced in different cultures, and between couples. It is therefore important not only to work with women, but also to work with men, and to make space for men to address male role and behaviour, and explore new ways of organising gender relationships. That is why I became optimistic after having seen the young boys in Mozambique.
• It is Norway’s view that it is necessary to talk more openly about sex and about AIDS, gender and power relations, culture and to create counter-forces to marginalisation in order to succeed in the work. We need sex education in schools, where sencitive and difficult issues can be openly talked about.
• Gender roles are deeply embedded in culture and in how people understand the “natural order”, which makes it difficult to change. It is, however, important to remember that culture is not a static thing, it changes all the time, under the influence of global as well as local forces. Influencing cultures to change to obtain more equality between men and women.
• From Norway, a programme called “Women can do it” has been developed as a training programme for women, based on experiences from the Norwegian struggle for greater gender equality. This training programme for women’s empowerment has been carried out in a number of countries, and it has been met with enthusiasm and le to women becoming active participants in decision making at all levels of society. Even if cultures and contexts are different, important lessons can be shared and adapted to local circumstances. We can share our experience with women from other parts of the world – about our long fight for equality and for the welfare state. We have also realised in Norway that gender equality and women’s liberation must be an integrated part of the welfare state. And vice-versa: A welfare state is impossible without gender equality.
And finally; we need action and we need change. And we need it fast. We need to ensure that we get a comprehensive action at a national level integrated in national plans – and implemented everywhere."
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