Conundrum of Sexual Decision-Making and Safer Sex Behaviour Among Married Women in Zambia

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Health, Stigma, and Access to Care

Abstract

Recent research suggests that Zambian women face a greater risk of contracting HIV within marital relationships. Using the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey data from 4,306 married women, this paper examines how married women’s perception about their own sexual rights influences their ability to negotiate safer sex. Results from the logistic regression models reveal that married women who protest wife beating on the grounds of sex refusal were more likely to be able to refuse their husbands sex. Likewise, married women who know they have the right to refuse their husbands sex if they sleep around with other women were more likely to report they can negotiate safer sex. Those who have factual knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention, and those who have tested for their HIV-serostatus were also more likely to report they can demand for condom use. Interestingly, rural married women who know they have the right to demand for condom use if their husbands have contracted a sexually transmitted infection were more likely to report they can refuse their husbands sex. These findings suggest that married women are able to negotiate safer sex if they are empowered to know their sexual rights and have correct factual knowledge about HIV transmission.

Authors

• Jonathan Anim Amoyaw, University of Western Ontario

• Godfred Odei Boateng, Western University