Women’s Housing Rights and the Struggle against HIV/AIDS New Report from COHRE
“My relatives demolished my house, stigmatised me, and told me they did not want more graves on their land.”
Testimony given to COHRE by a woman from Kanu plains, Western Kenya [name withheld]
COHRE believes that in order for international and national anti-AIDS strategies to be effective, they must prioritise women’s housing and land security, and women’s equality more broadly.
Within the context of HIV/AIDS, securing women’s housing and land rights is a critical strategy for change. Gender discriminatory norms and traditional practices which limit or preclude women’s access to housing, land and property, both generate and sustain the dire circumstances which underlie women’s disproportionate susceptibility to HIV infection. While women’s enjoyment of their right to adequate housing is clearly threatened in situations of gender inequality, the good news is that when this right is properly protected, it can fundamentally uplift women’s status and lessen the devastating impacts of HIV/AIDS.
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