THE GENDERED POWER DIFFERENTIAL: ITS ROLE IN HIV AND INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AMONG WOMEN IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA by

This paper will discuss the power differential between women and men and its role in the intersection of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner violence among women in subSaharan Africa. Both HIV and intimate partner violence are of tremendous public health relevance. Since its “discovery” over 20 years ago, HIV has been and continues to be a world health problem. Nearly 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS; about half of them are women. Fifty seven percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa are women. HIV prevention continues to be an urgent health priority in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout developing countries around the world; yet interventions preach abstinence and safer sex practices without recognizing the sociocultural context of HIV/AIDS or of sexual behavior and practices. Traditional concepts of gender roles and the power differential intrinsic in relationships between women and men must be accounted for – not only in the design of HIV interventions, but also acknowledged as risk factors for violent relationships. Suggestion of condom use by the female partner, for example, is often met with suspicion, hostility, even violence from her male partner. Intimate partner violence is researched in this paper because it is the ultimate manifestation of the gendered power differential.