SUVA – Men’s infidelity is not only common but more socially acceptable, says a report on women living with HIV in Fiji and PNG.
The report by published by the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation said women with HIV in Fiji and PNG were of the view that both men and women were unfaithful in marriage.
A 31-year-old Fijian woman living with HIV said in the report: “When a man sleeps around, it is acceptable, it is normal. So for a man it is acceptable, but if a woman does, then she deserves it. She deserves to get HIV.
“Especially if she has kids, then people will say she is stupid.”
The report was released last month in Nadi by Minister for Women Doctor Jiko Luveni.
The PIAF said the tendency that women shoulder the blame for being HIV-positive was a theme that ran throughout the report.
A 37-year-old HIV-positive PNG woman said: “If the men are womanising, they come and sort of order the wife ù ‘You, you don’t go there’!
“And that man will go drinking and the woman stays at home. She’s always busy in the house doing nothing.
“This man goes there and comes and fights (bashes) her, and commands her to sleep with him. And that’s where HIV is starting,” the 37-year-old woman said.
