Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Gender Roles of Boys and Girls

Handout 2 - Module 1 Topic 5

Disadvantages of gender-based roles, especially for girls:

• Lack of access to information and schooling, because of the nature and long hours
  of girls’ work


• Low levels of education and life skills because girls often withdraw from school
  to look after siblings and sick parents


• Early marriages because girls often lack education and economic independence


• Girls may become commercial sex workers because of economic vulnerability


• Risk of unprotected sex because girls often lack adequate knowledge and
  information


• Rape and difficulty in negotiating for safer sex for girls, exposing them to a high
  risk of HIV infection


• Violence against women


• Male drunkenness and drug abuse impacts on the physical safety of girls.

Cultural considerations:

In many cases both married or unmarried men have multiple partners, including sex

workers, and this behaviour is culturally accepted. Cultural attitudes condone or even

encourage male sexual freedom and repress female sexuality. The practice of multiple

partners and commercial sex services, places girls and women at risk and is a significant

factor in promoting the spread of HIV/AIDS, thus fuelling the problems that further

lead to orphans and vulnerable children.

In many other cases, women are expected to have relations with, or marry, older men

who are more sexually experienced and more likely to be infected. Men may also seek

younger partners in order to avoid infection and in the unfounded belief that sex with a

virgin cures AIDS and other diseases.

The main results of being disadvantaged:

• Violence against women, including all forms of coerced or forced sex


• Harmful traditional practices


• Stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS – violence, abandonment and neglect


• Lack of access to HIV/AIDS education, prevention and services for adolescents


• Sexual abuse of girls and girls and women’s lack of control over sexuality and
  sexual relationships


• Poor reproductive and sexual health


• Neglect of health needs, nutrition and medical care


• Issues of non-disclosure of HIV status (partner notification vs. total confidentiality),
  thus the practise of unsafe sex.

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Appendix 1, Handouts^313