Appendix 1
Questions / Participant Responses
1. What do you think about this story (after vignette on a woman with HIV/AIDS being thrown
out of her home by her partner)? 2. Why do you think this happened?
“ The husband probably thinks about how will people look at him because her wife is HIV positive”- Male
participant
“The man thought about death before he could reason”- Male participant
Black people have a tendency to accuse a woman of bringing the virus”-Male participant
“ The man thinks the wife has been misbehaving and that the woman will infect me as the husband”-
Male participant.
“ By just staying with this woman this man thinks that she will infect him”-Male participant.
“The man thinks that people will ridicule him since his wife is infected” Male participant.
“ The shock that perhaps this woman has HIV/AIDS might have lead to her husband not accepting that
she is HIV positive”- male participant.
“The Man thinks that the woman deserves to be beaten up for bringing the virus into the home- Female
participant.
“People will talk, the husband thinks about his status in the community and he doesn’t think about his
sick wife. If it was a man who was HIV positive, the expectation is that the woman would have taken care
of him”-Female participant
“The husband thinks that the woman is the one who brought the virus and that he will chuck her out of
his house”
“People will think that this woman is the one who infected or brought the disease into the home”-
Participant
“Probably the husband was shocked because he doesn’t know his status”
“The husband didn’t accept that his wife is positive and therefore there is the issue of abuse- Female
participant.
“ He thinks she sleeps around”- Male participant.
“The husband is running away from reality, he should look good in the eyes of the community”
Men are not aware of their status, they become aware of their status once their wives or women become
sick- Female participant.
3.Why do you think community members treat PLHAs badly?
“ People are generally afraid of death”
“ When you are sick, people don’t care about you. They no longer have time for you- Female participant
4.Do you think HIV more easily infects women than men? If so, why do you think so?
“Men are stronger and they don’t normally go to the clinic like women do. Women go to the clinic every
week”- Male participant
“Yes, men have strong blood, unlike women”-Male participant
“To most men the disease doesn’t show in the early stages, they can stay between 3-5 years whilst for
women it is a different story- Male participant.
“ Men sleep around, but the women’s biological make-up is different from that of men”-Female
participant.
“ Women look after children, they are home managers and they are weak biologically- Female participant
5.How do you think women living with HIV/AIDS acquire the virus?
Unemployment- because you are not working at times you get a man who you think can be able to help or
assist you at home and you end sleeping with him only to find out that he is HIV positive after a while-
Female participant
“People normally blame witchcraft and say that one is bewitched. If a person like me is fat and decides to
slim or reduce weight, the community already makes a judgment that you reducing weight means that
you have AIDS- Female participant.
“ It is a men’s problem, they (men) want to get recognition, status etc- Female participant”
“ The sugar daddy/unemployment and socio-economic factors contribute to the acceleration of
HIV/AIDS” Male participant
“ Women normally think about kids, the family welfare and as a result for them to put bread or food on
the table- they end up doing services or sleeping with other men just to make sure that she keeps the home-
fires burning.
“It is men who propose to women, women don’t propose, it’s men and men are the ones responsible for
bringing the virus and turning around to blame women!”-Female participant
“Men do not want to use condoms- Female participant.
“Women want to spread the virus, men want to spread the virus, it’s the same”- Male participant”
“Prostitutes [most prostitutes are women] and they are the ones who are spreading the virus”- male
participant.
6.Do you think women LWHA are responsible for their illness? If so, why?
[Not answered…???]
7.How does your community respond to women living with HIV/AIDS?
“Women are always blamed, whilst it should be both men and women who are to blame” Female
participant.
“ People think that if you are HIV positive as a woman you have been promiscuous”-Female participant”
“ The community abuses HIV positive people, whether it is the elderly or youth,female or male. The
community cannot accept your status. There is no difference, they are treated the same”- Female
participant
‘ If we see a HIV positive woman, we normally put it to be that she behaved immorally and she has been
promiscuous” Female participant
“ Women are to blame, because it is most women who die from HIV/AIDS”.
“ Stigma is also fueled by women themselves”- Female participant.
“ They [women] are called Isifebe (Bitch) or Hoover (like a vacuum), because a Hoover takes all the dust
and everything it comes across” Male Participant.
“ Women are given degrading names such as Isifebe or Henyukazi or Amahenyukazi”
“ They are a Taxi”- Male participant.
8.How does the community respond to men living with HIV/AIDS? If there are differences,
why do you think this is?
“If a man is HIV positive, he will not be stigmatized or called degrading names in the same way as a
woman- Female participant
“Men are given names such positive names like: Izibethi or Ingangara (An Izibethi or Ingangara is a man
who has many girlfriends, money, an expensive car etc.)- Male participant.
“Men are called “Ncholongwane” [meaning virus] whilst women are called “Noncholongwane”.
“Men are called names like “Player” and these names are the ones that promote promiscuity among men
because “ You are a boss”- Female participant.
Men are called or given names that comforts them. They are called “ Indoda” or people will say “ O fuze
Tata wakhe” [meaning he is like his father or “like Father like son”.]
Because men have power or physical power, this serves as a threat to those who want to stigmatise men –
Male participant
9.What are the reasons that lead people to have negative responses to those living with
HIV/AIDS? 10.What should be done to remove the negative perceptions in the community
of those living with HIV/AIDS?
“ In community projects - for example - gardening, HIV positive people should form part of the
community projects- they should be seen as productive people”-Male participant.
“Support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS should go into the community. They should have road
shows and drama groups. It is important to have respected persons from the stigmatised community to
share their life stories”- female participant.
“ Stigma starts from the home, if people at home are strong this can be reduced, health workers should go
door to door to educated the community and the government should play a role- The solution for stigma
is to arrest the perpetrators. Nurses and counselors should not sit in offices or clinics they must also go to
the community, because the stigma also from nurses as well. They gossip about patients and it becomes
worse when this reaches the community”- Female participant
“ Parents should talk to their kids about HIV/AIDS though it is difficult to discuss issues of sex with
kids” Female participant.
“ We should have posters for example, as big as the African National Congress (ANC) posters depicting
President Thabo Mbeki. These posters should be visible and should not only be in the clinic.”- Female
participant.
“By stopping or having to treat HIV positive people as if they are non-humans, perhaps this will reduce
HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination” Male participant.
“We must change the strategy in HIV/AIDS education, explain to people- Does HIV cause AIDS? This
explanation has still not been explained to ordinary people. Get celebrities who are infected to be part of
the Awareness programmes, if they (celebrities) hide HIV/AIDS, then it’s a problem”- Male participant.
“ We should intensify public awareness and education campaigns”- Female participant
“ There should be a law enacted to deal with stigma and the law should be harsh and have a punishable
offence- this could deter people from accusing each other, labeling each other etc”.- Female participant.
The elderly should talk with their kids, furthermore the family should be a platform where these issues are
raised as well- to further reduce the stigma- female participant
Parents should play a role in reducing stigma and they must be open to their children about educating
them about HIV/AIDS- female participant
11.What is the community doing to remove prejudice and discrimination towards those
living with HIV/AIDS?
[Question not answered]
12.How are people (women & men) living with HIV and AIDS (PLHAs) treated by the
community?
“People who are HIV positive are not seen as humans, the person is seen as an animal- he or she cannot
live within the community rather the person can go and stay alone somewhere else- Female participant.
13.What are the attitudes/feelings of the general public towards PLHAs?
“ People respond differently some are rude and have their moods ”. -Female participant”
“ Our culture has not accepted that HIV/AIDS exists people don’t take diagnosis from the Doctors, but
will mostly take or go for the opinion of the traditional healers or doctors”-Female participant
“They are seen as a curse, a shame and as carriers of the disease”-Male Participant.
“ When you are positive they say that you have struck the lotto (“o bambe ilotto”).
“ Stigma also starts at home, for example, you won’t dishes or at times you won’t be told directly that
you should not do this or that” Male participant
Appendix 2: Research/ Focus Group Questions
1. What do you think about this story (after vignette on a woman with HIV/AIDS being thrown
out of her home by her partner)?
2. Why do you think this happened?
3. Why do you think community members treat PLHAs badly?
4. Do you think HIV more easily infects women than men? If so, why do you think so?
5. How do you think women living with HIV/AIDS acquire the virus?
6. Do you think women LWHA are responsible for their illness? If so, why?
7. How does your community respond to women living HIV/AIDS?
8. How does the community respond to men living with HIV/AIDS? If there are differences, why
do you think this is?
9. What are the reasons that lead people to have negative responses to those living with
HIV/AIDS?
10. What should be done to remove the negative perceptions in the community of those living
with HIV/AIDS?
11. What is the community doing to remove prejudice and discrimination towards those living
with HIV/AIDS?
12. How are people (women & men) living with HIV and AIDS (PLHAs) treated by the
community?
13. What are the attitudes/feelings of the general public towards PLHAs?
Appendix 3: Refined focus group questions
1. What do you think about this picture?
2. Why are women at risk?
3. Do you think women are more easily infected than men?
4. What cultural issues contribute to the stigmatization of women living with HIV/AIDS?
5. Why do you think women are treated differently than men?
6. Do you think women are more stigmatised than men.
7. How do you think HIV positive women acquired the virus?
8. What are people’s fears about HIV/AIDS?
9. How do women (people) feel when they are treated badly?
10. What can be done to prevent stigmatization towards people living with HIV/AIDS?
11. What are the factors that contribute to women being more stigmatised than men?
Appendices I - III
Gender, HIV/ADIS and Stigma:
Understanding Prejudice Against Women Living with HIV/AIDS
by
Tshipinare Marumo
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Quiet Mountain Essays