WUNRN
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
HIV/AIDS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, &
LAWS - CANADA & GLOBAL
The face of HIV/AIDS has changed greatly since the early years of the
epidemic. Western scientists first understood HIV/AIDS as a health concern of
men, especially gay men. It took time and overdue research to understand that
women are physiologically more vulnerable to HIV transmission than men, at
least where heterosexual transmission is concerned. It took even more time to
bring the world around to the idea that physiological factors were only one
aspect of women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, women and girls have accounted for a
steadily larger proportion of new HIV transmission, both in Canada and
internationally, primarily as a result of sex with a male partner living with
HIV. Not enough has been done to address the poverty, subordination, violence
and human rights abuses that drive the epidemic among women and compound its
impact upon them.
We research and analyze the role that the law plays in perpetuating women's
poverty, lack of access to health care and social services, lack of rights
awareness, vulnerability to violence, and exposure to stigma and
discrimination. In close collaboration with women's groups, we develop and
advocate for legal and policy frameworks that respect protect and fulfill women's
human rights, with the ultimate goal of reducing the disproportionate impact of
HIV/AIDS among women and girls.
A series of four info sheets on the human rights of women living with or vulnerable to HIV in Canada.
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