HIV/AIDS and land ownership rights

The HIV/AIDS phenomenon may force society to reconsider the rights it accords women. Although human rights may be universal and inherent in every human being, their practical realization tends to be dependent on the prevailing ruling class. Feminists have long asserted that women have the right of sovereignty over their own bodies and the right to own property. The HIV/AIDS pandemic may by default force society to acknowledge just this, for the sake of society's own survival.
As Geeta Rao Gupta of the International Center for Research on Women says, "It is a cruel irony that, in AIDS-related illness and death, women now have equality with men - equality that has been denied them in life." [1] In the areas worst hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the nexus between the scourge and women's economic disempowerment is clear; the less economically empowered a woman is, the more vulnerable she is to infection by HIV. The most common interventions against HIV/AIDS urge people to follow the ABCs of protection; 'Abstain, Be faithful to your partner or use a Condom.' The reality on the ground has however shown that for women it is not that simple to prevent infection. If a woman does not feel safe physically and financially she does not have the power to implement the ABCs of HIV prevention.
The link between women's economic disempowerment and their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is made all the more clear in the situations of widows in places like Kenya's Nyanza province, particularly within the Luo community. This province is the worst hit in Kenya by the pandemic due to several factors, amongst which is probably the practice of widow inheritance. Traditionally, when a man died, one of his brothers or other male relatives was required to step in and cater for the widow financially and socially. Women were not accorded title to property and therefore the property and children of the deceased man was considered to be in need of a caretaker other than his wife. In this polygamous society, when a man died, his brother would therefore become the husband of the widow. The practice continues to date and is blamed for fuelling the spread of HIV and AIDS.
In many communities, as exemplified by the Luo of Kenya, women cannot own property in their own right. In agricultural communities where ownership of title to property in land is especially significant, a landless person is to be pitied since such communities rely on the land for their livelihood. In Africa, the continent hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, where the majority of the population relies on agricultural land for their subsistence, land ownership is a big issue. It is impossible to try and intervene against HIV/AIDS without addressing the reasons why women are vulnerable to infection and re-infection.
Amongst the Luo, when a man dies, his widow needs to be 'cleansed.' This cleansing is achieved when a social outcast has sexual intercourse with the woman. The intercourse needs to be flesh to flesh without the protective intervention of a condom. Apart from the cleansing, the widow needs to be inherited, meaning a male relative of the deceased man should take on his familial responsibilities, including not only the financial ones, but also presumably those related to sex and procreation. The monetary and non-monetary contribution that the widow has made to the acquisition of the property that is regarded as the deceased's is immaterial. Formal title to property cannot vest in her, according to tradition.
Most governmental policies, both for governments of countries heavily afflicted with HIV/AIDS and of donor countries are blind to the realities of the ways in which land ownership rights have implications on women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. They promote the ABC approach. Perhaps a 'D' should be added to this approach; 'Defend women's property ownership rights.'
In predominantly agricultural societies, land ownership is key to survival. For women to whom land ownership equals freedom over their personal destiny, the ABC approach does not work because without title to land they are powerless to dictate the conditions upon which they will have sex. Tradition may decree that they are unclean after the death of their husbands until ritually cleansed. Practical physical ownership of property, furniture and other things acquired in the name of her husband may be difficult to prove and implementation impossible to assert.
The ABC approach to HIV infection prevention will only be effective when both men and women have de facto equality and when women feel economically secure to use the ABCs of prevention against HIV infection.
Sources:
1. In 'Guaranteeing Women Property and Inheritance Rights: An Essential Ingredient in the Fight against AIDS.' Congressional Briefing on Women and AIDS, March 30, 2006.