Women
In the following section you will find information on campaigning activity from women's groups at an international, regional and national level
Of the 39.5 million people living with HIV in the world today, almost half are women, up from 41% in 1997. Often, rates of infection in women and girls are increasing at a much faster level than men. In many places in the world, women, especially young women and girls can be particularly vulnerable to HIV and AIDS due to unequal power relationships caused by social, cultural and economic factors as well as violence, lack of information, limited access to treatment and other unique challenges.
Violence against women not only increases women’s vulnerability to HIV, it also presents a significant obstacle to accessing care, treatment and support for HIV positive women.
The lack of access to HIV-related information and treatment is highlighted as an additional challenge facing many women around the world. It has recently been reported that globally, only nine percent of pregnant women have access to ART to prevent mother to child transmission.
And in many societies, the burden of care for sick or orphaned family members most often falls on women and girls without sufficient social support, limiting their education and employment opportunities.
Why is leadership important from a woman’s perspective?
Despite these obstacles, women are leading the way for change. They are leaders in civil society organisations and networks of people living with HIV, in local communities and international politics. Women are speaking out and calling on leaders at every level to fulfill the promises they have made – for this generation and for the future.
Some of the key promises that women are demanding leaders to keep are:
- Achieving universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services by 2010 to reduce the spread of HIV, maternal mortality and morbidity and eliminate the disproportionate burden on women’s lives and health or other adverse outcomes of unprotected sex.
- Strengthening health and legal sectors responses to gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination against all persons and make ending all forms of violence against women and girls a central aspect of all bilateral and multilateral strategies including, but not limited to, HIV programmes.
- Supporting universal access to comprehensive sexuality education for all women and youth.
- Ensuring equitable access to productive resources and secure women’s property and inheritance rights.
To read more about women taking the lead to stop AIDS, please see below.
Women Won't Wait Campaign Press Release, June 6, 2008
WOMEN ARE STILL WAITING FOR GOVERNMENTS TO REDUCE WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ RISK TO VIOLENCE AND HIV&AIDS!
International coalition urges governments and donors to keep their promises to women and girls
NEW YORK, 6 JUNE 2008 - Government officials and AIDS activists from around the world will convene at the United Nations in New York from 10-12 June to review the global HIV/AIDS response. At the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001, governments committed to promote and protect women’s human rights and reduce women’s vulnerability to HIV&AIDS by eliminating all forms of discrimination including violence against women.
Press Release-Women Won't Wait Campaign
March 4, 2008
(New York) — On its one year anniversary, the Women Won’t Wait. End HIV and Violence against Women. NOW!
Campaign remains concerned that women’s rights still occupy the margins of HIV&AIDS strategies and funding. The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day—March 8, 2007—to demand that policy makers and donors integrate responses to violence against women in global and national AIDS programmes and allocate resources to these responses.
ACT to End HIV and Violence against Women
Within the toolkit below, you will find key information and advocacy tools to help end HIV and violence against women. Key information includes why AIDS policies must consider policies pertaining to violence against women, backgrounds on the UNGASS 2008 Review and International AIDS Conference in Mexico. Advocacy tools include key actions women and health groups can take to help the cause, a list of recommendations from the Women Won’t Wait Campaign and other resources.
Africa Public Health Rights Alliance Issues Maternal Death Scorecard At Start of Women Deliver International Conference on Investing in Women¹s Health.
Relentless Increase in African Maternal Death Could Be Equated To Genocide By Inaction Says Africa Public Health Rights Alliance ³15% Now² Campaign.
Book: “If I Kept it to Myself”. Young women working to make a difference in a world with AIDS.
In this book you will read about young women from all over the world, who have shaken their communities as peer counselors and educators, as care givers and as people living openly with HIV or AIDS; giving hope to many and promoting a humanistic response to the pandemic.
Women vow to lead change in response to AIDS
Vowing that “we can lead the change we wish to see in the world”, participants at the World YWCA’s International Women’s Summit on HIV and AIDS concluded their meeting with a call to action demanding individual and collective responsibility.
International Women's Summit 4-11 July 2007, Nairobi
Women's Leadership Making a Difference on HIV and AIDS.
The International Women's Summit offers a unique opportunity to listen to some of the world's leading experts on HIV and AIDS and learn from the experiences of women working in the heart of local communities. It's a chance to lead change in addressing the impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls.
Women Won't Wait Coalition Launched
“Women Won't Wait”, a new international coalition of women's groups, launched its campaign to end HIV and violence against women with a new report released: "Show Us the Money: Is Violence Against Women on the HIV&AIDS Donor Agenda?"
European Sisters speak out!
The rights of women to decide freely about their sexual lives and the number and spacing of their children are often violated in name of culture and religion. Growing conservatism across the globe and in Europe threatens these rights even further.
1,200 delegates turn out for the Women's conference on HIV/AIDS in Cameroon
The women in the military took the lead in a march in Limbe, Cameroon on World AIDS Day 2006
The Government of Cameroon, National and International NGOs, Diplomatic missions, UN systems and over 500 rural women all made a mark during the conference. Civil society set ambitious targets and set time frames to realize them. Over 3000 persons joined the conference participants to commemorate the world AIDS day in a two hours march round town in Limbe.