Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa, notably South Africa, is affected by high prevalence rates of HIV infection. These HIV infections are gendered, affecting heterosexual women. Spousal infidelity in marriage poses a risk of infection in marriage. Despite this risk, qualitative research about women’s experiences of being infected by husbands remains sparse. Three married monogamous women who reported having tested positive for HIV were recruited at private and public health clinics in urban centres in South Africa. A descriptive qualitative research design was used. Participants were interviewed using semistructured in-depth phenomenological interviews in a three-phase structure. Interview transcripts were analyzed using social constructionist thematic analysis. Eleven themes illustrated how women’s experience of HIV infection was gendered and influenced by cultural practices and male hegemony. The analysis was guided by two theoretical frameworks, namely, social constructionism and intersectionality. The findings suggest that HIV intersected with other categories (marriage, gender, race, socioeconomic) to create disempowerment. The implication is that interventions should be focused on men’s extramarital sexual relationships that make women vulnerable to HIV...
D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)