Table 3 Different forms of stigma-related violence experienced by women
Types of HIV-related violence | |
|---|---|
Denial of medical care | Forceful interruption/suspicions around clinic visits |
Actively stopping (using physical violence) ART intake | |
Tearing up all medical reports and denying having HIV | |
Forced unsafe sex | |
Not disclosing status to woman depriving her of treatment | |
Preventing hospitalization even when very sick (woman needs to continue to do housework) | |
No support with medical costs | |
Emotional manipulation to stop ART intake | |
Neglect | No help with housework when sick |
Emotional neglect | |
Woman having to care for herself when sick | |
Forced migration | Forceful eviction from shared household |
Women decide to leave on their own (fearing violence if family gets to know) | |
Abandonment at hospital/women’s shelters (upon diagnosis) | |
Forced to move out of village | |
Isolation | Forced to stay in one room of shared house |
No one speaks to woman and her children | |
Specifically told not to attend social gatherings | |
Utensils separated/not allowed to cook or touch family food | |
Not allowed to use village pond | |
Nutritional deprivation/economic violence | Denied nutritious food |
Denied financial support (women have to start working for the first time in their lives) | |
Denial of husband’s property | |
Publicizing status | Telling neighbours/extended family about woman’s status |
Gossiping about her status (behind her back) | |
Utensils separated by in-laws at large gatherings | |
Intense psychological abuse | Verbal abuse about poor moral character |
Notions of untouchability reinforced through isolation/threats of denial of last rights | |
Husband and in-laws gang up to blame the woman for “bringing HIV” | |
Widows blamed for “killing husband” | |
Women made to feel dirty (“smells bad”, “body riddled with worms”) |