Endangered Womanhood

Women's Experiences With HIV/Aids in China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5454892
AutoresYanqiu Rachel Zhou (0000-0002-8462-9177, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen18
Número8
Páginas1115-1126
Fecha de publicación2008-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1049732308319924
PMID18650566
OpenAlexW2100516357
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas28

Women in China are increasingly affected by HIV/AIDS. Current AIDS studies have examined the HIV risks faced by this gender group, paying inadequate attention to women's actual experiences with the disease. This oversight has inhibited our ability to understand the impact of gender on women's capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS in their postinfection lives. Based on a qualitative study on illness experiences of HIV-infected people, this article examines the interactions between HIV/AIDS and gender roles in the Chinese context. It was found that traditional gender norms have played a key role for HIV-infected women in their efforts to tackle this disease and to make sense of their daily lives. HIV infection has created a conflict between women's intention to fulfill their conception of 'womanhood' and a decreased ability to do so, which, in turn, has adversely affected their self-perceptions and well-being. To avoid worsening the inequality women experience, therefore, we must also work on the socioeconomic conditions, for example, through delivering comprehensive care to affected families and developing a gender-sensitive welfare policy, so that the gender imparity that permeates this epidemic can be challenged and transformed

China · Developing country · Disease · Economic growth · Environmental health · Family medicine · Political science · Population · Qualitative research · Social science · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Gender Studies · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Gerontology