Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS, and Domestic Violence
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Women’s property rights, HIV and AIDS, and domestic violence Research fi ndings from two rural districts in South Africa and Uganda November 2007 International Center for Research on Women Hema Swaminathan, Kimberly Ashburn, Aslihan Kes and Nata Duvvury Human Sciences Research Council Cherryl Walker, Michael Aliber and Busi Nkosi ASSOCIATES RESEARCH Associates for Development Margaret A Rugadya and Kamusiime Herbert Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za First published 2008 ISBN 978-0-7969-2223-6 © 2008 Human Sciences Research Council Print management by GREYMATTER & FINCH Distributed in Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in Europe and the United Kingdom by Eurospan Distribution Services (EDS) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 0856; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7379 0609 www.eurospanbookstore.com Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741; Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 www.ipgbook.com CONTENTS List of tables and figures iv Acknowledgements v List of contributors vi Executive summary vii Section 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Conceptual framework and literature review 3 Chapter 2: Research design and methods 10 Section 2: Research findings from Amajuba, South Africa 15 Chapter 3: Background to the South African site 17 Chapter 4: Socio-economic profiles, Amajuba 39 Chapter 5: Intimate partnerships and domestic violence 46 Chapter 6: Tenure security and property rights 53 Chapter 7: Domestic violence and property rights 61 Chapter 8: Focus group discussions 73 Chapter 9: Linkages and implications 77 Section 3: Research findings from Iganga, Uganda 85 Chapter 10: Background to the Ugandan site 87 Chapter 11: Socio-economic profiles, Iganga 96 Chapter 12: Property ownership and use 102 Chapter 13: Domestic violence and gender relations 111 Chapter 14: Property and HIV and AIDS 120 Chapter 15: Linking the findings 126 Section 4: Comparative analysis 133 Chapter 16: Comparing projects 135 Chapter 17: Women and property 139 Chapter 18: Property, HIV and AIDS, and domestic violence 144 Appendices 151 Appendix 1: Contributors 151 Appendix 2: The in-country study research teams 152 Appendix 3: In-depth interview guidelines (English) 153 Appendix 4: Focus group discussion vignettes 169 References 171 Section 1 171 Section 2 174 Section 3 177 Section 4 178 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Table 3.1 Tenure type in Amajuba district (2007) 25 Table 3.2 Distribution of households in Amajuba district by size (1996, 2001 and 2006) 29 Table 3.3 Distribution of households in Amajuba district by size and gender of head (2006) 29 Table 3.4 Selected demographic indicators for Amajuba district (2001 and 2006) 30 Table 4.1 Birthplace of respondents 39 Table 4.2 Primary residence of respondents at time of interview 40 Table 4.3 Age distribution by respondents’ HIV status 42 Table 4.4 Education by respondents’ HIV status 43 Table 5.1 Marital status by respondents’ HIV status 46 Table 5.2 Current relationships with intimate partners (IP) by respondents’ HIV status 47 Table 5.3 Accounts of abuse in their lifetime by respondents’ HIV status 49 Table 5.4 Reported experience of domestic violence by respondents’ HIV status 49 Table 5.5 Perpetrators of reported violence by respondents’ HIV status 50 Table 6.1 Current tenure by respondents’ HIV status 54 Table 6.2 Circumstances of infection: residence and likely cause 60 Table 10.1 Description of the Iganga population 94 Table 11.1 Location by respondents’ HIV status 95 Table 11.2 Education and age by respondents’ HIV status 97 Table 11.3 Marital status by respondents’ location and HIV status 99 Table 11.4 Outstanding childhood experiences (frequency of mentions) 101 Table 12.1 Ownership and use of property in household 103 Table 12.2 Ownership of rural and urban land 104 Table 13.1 Triggers of violence (frequency of mentions) 112 Table 13.2 Forms of violence (frequency of mentions) 113 Table 13.3 Protective response to violence (frequency of mentions) 114 Table 13.4 Effect of violence on women’s lifestyles (frequency of mentions) 115 Table 16.1 Key socio-demographic indicators across the study sites 136 Table 17.1 Distribution by current primary residence and marital and IP status in Amajuba 141 Table 17.2 Distribution by current primary residence and marital and IP status in Iganga 141 Figures Figure 3.1 Amajuba district municipality in north-western KwaZulu-Natal 18 Figure 3.2 Detail of Amajuba district showing traditional authority (TA) land 27 Figure 10.1 Iganga district, Uganda 93 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the research team The research team would like to thank the Ford Foundation (New York, USA) and an anonymous donor (USA) for their funding and support of this project. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the input of the study peer reviewer, Ann Whitehead. Gratitude is due to all the key informants and focus group members for their participation as well as to everyone who contributed their time and insight to designing the study. Finally, the team would like to extend its deepest gratitude to the women who willingly shared their time and experiences. From the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) team The ICRW team thanks Sandra Bunch, Jeffrey Edmeades, Caren Grown, Michelle Kayaleh, Nicholas Lehnertz, Ruth Long, Anju Malhotra, Elizabeth Nicoletti, and Eve Goldstein-Siegel for their support and critical input into this research. From the South African team The South Africa team would like to thank the field research team at the HEARD, Newcastle office; Busi Nkosi (senior researcher), Mandisa Cakwe (senior researcher, planning stage), Nkgatiseng Molefe (in-depth interviews), Busi Sibeko (in-depth interviews), Thembalihle Zwane (in-depth interviews), Ishmael Hadebe (focus group), Menzi Hadebe (focus group), Owen Magadlela (focus group), Clive Mavimbela (male focus group facilitator). The team wishes to acknowledge the particular contribution of Nkgatiseng Molefe, Busi Sibeko and Thembalihle Zwane, who achieved a commendable balance between empathy and professionalism in the in-depth interviews, in a demanding research environment. The team also thanks Shireen Hassim, Sibongile Ndashe and Lisa Vetten for their contribution as members of the South African Reference Group. From the Associates for Development (AfD) team The AfD team expresses special thanks to the data collection team for a job well done and to Christine Kajumba, their field supervisor. The members of the data collection team were: Diana Ssali (in-depth interviews), Mwiroro Mable (in-depth interviews and focus group discussions), Kyakobyeko Juliet (in-depth interviews), Kevin Guttabingi (in-depth interviews), Mark Batyagaba (focus group discussions and key informant interviews) and Adongo Caroline (in-depth interviews). The team extends their gratitude to the transcribers and typists supervised by Joseph Tenywa, documentalist. The team further appreciates the input from the AfD steering committee chaired by Noame Kabanda and the country reference group members: Eddie Nsamba-Gayiiya, Regina Lule-Mutyaba, John Kigula, who tirelessly offered advice in the compilation of the research results, as well as Dr Abby Ssebina-Zziwa, who was involved in the conception of the study and the design of the study areas. v LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS ICRW Hema Swaminathan (project director for the overall project) Currently at the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India Kimberly Ashburn Aslihan Kes Nata Duvvury Currently Coordinator, Graduate Programmme, Women’s Studies, National University of Ireland at Galway South African team The research was conducted under the auspices of the Human Sciences Research Council. The core research team comprised: Cherryl Walker (country principal investigator) Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch Michael Aliber (formerly of the HSRC) PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, Bellville Busi Nkosi HEARD, University of KwaZulu-Natal, ACHWRP office, Newcastle Ugandan team Margaret A Rugadya (country principal investigator) Associates for Development, Kampala Kamusiime Herber Associates for Development, Kampala vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The importance of women’s property and inheritance rights (WPIR) is recognised in inter- national legal instruments and in a growing number of national laws. Yet in many devel- oping countries, women do not have the right to own or inherit property. This issue goes beyond being a denial of basic human rights in the context of the AIDS epidemic, but also affects women’s ability to meet their most basic needs. Women are increasingly becoming household heads and therefore in critical need of land and property for economic security and basic survival. Further, lacking secure property rights deprives women of the bargain- ing power that could be a factor in diminishing their risk of contracting HIV that results from sexual violence and from experiencing other forms of violence. To better understand the role played by tenure security in protecting against, and mitigating the effects of, HIV and violence, the ICRW, HSRC, and AfD conducted research over a two- year period, beginning in 2005, that explored these linkages in Amajuba district, South Africa and Iganga district, Uganda. The current rates of HIV infection among the adult population in South Africa and Uganda are 20 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. Amajuba is more urban (more than 56 per cent), while Iganga is predominantly rural, with only about 5 per cent of its population living in urban settlements. Qualitative research methods were applied across the two site countries to examine women’s experiences with land and property ownership, HIV and AIDS, and domestic violence. In-depth interviews were conducted with 60 women in each site. Overall, this study found that property ownership, while not easily linked to women’s ability to prevent HIV infection, can nonetheless mitigate the impact of AIDS, and can also enhance a woman’s ability to leave a violent situation.