Search for greener pastures leads to sexual dependency

HUNDREDS of women come to Windhoek in search of jobs and better living conditions but end up resorting to selling their bodies for survival, a recent study has revealed.

The !Nara Training Centre, a non-governmental organisation, recently conducted a study on how women migrated to Windhoek in search of greener pastures. The study said some of the women who come to the city end up being forced to engage in risky sexual behaviour “as a survival strategy”.Some 712 respondents were interviewed by 17 enumerators in four of Windhoek’s informal settlements – Goreangab, Okahandja Park, Hakahana and Greenwell Matongo.Most women interviewed (32,2 per cent) frequently cited employment as the reason for converging on Windhoek.More than 21 per cent said they had come to the city in search of better education opportunities.While some said they were employed as domestic workers or were selling alcohol in shebeens, around 31 per cent cited boyfriends as their main source of income.The study said women were economically dependent on men and found it tough to negotiate their way around sex.Others had multiple partners to augment their income.”Women are economically dependent on men and therefore need to enter into sexual relations with men for survival.If the relationships fail they are forced to seek the patronage of men.Sometimes women will enter into more than one relationships at the same time in order to increase her economic position,” the study said.It added that as a result of violence against women, some could not refuse sex to their partners even if they knew that they had other partners.Although some females migrated alone, once in Windhoek, they joined male relatives, husbands or boyfriends.The majority of those interviewed in the survey were from the northern regions – 22,4 per cent from Omusati Region, 19,3 from Ohangwena and 9,5 per cent from Oshana.For most of them, it was a lifetime migration.The women showed high levels of knowledge about modes of HIV transmission and prevention while 70 per cent knew someone who had died of AIDS-related illnesses.They said HIV-AIDS campaign messages were largely ignored because they were “unrealistic”.!Nara said the the women’s personal tales reflected the difficulty that housing presented to new female migrants who had to move in with a relative, husband or boyfriend to secure accommodation.It lamented the culture of silence about sexuality and unequal gender power that gave women no authority to discuss sexual matters with their partners.The study said some of the women who come to the city end up being forced to engage in risky sexual behaviour “as a survival strategy”.Some 712 respondents were interviewed by 17 enumerators in four of Windhoek’s informal settlements – Goreangab, Okahandja Park, Hakahana and Greenwell Matongo.Most women interviewed (32,2 per cent) frequently cited employment as the reason for converging on Windhoek.More than 21 per cent said they had come to the city in search of better education opportunities.While some said they were employed as domestic workers or were selling alcohol in shebeens, around 31 per cent cited boyfriends as their main source of income.The study said women were economically dependent on men and found it tough to negotiate their way around sex.Others had multiple partners to augment their income.”Women are economically dependent on men and therefore need to enter into sexual relations with men for survival.If the relationships fail they are forced to seek the patronage of men.Sometimes women will enter into more than one relationships at the same time in order to increase her economic position,” the study said.It added that as a result of violence against women, some could not refuse sex to their partners even if they knew that they had other partners.Although some females migrated alone, once in Windhoek, they joined male relatives, husbands or boyfriends.The majority of those interviewed in the survey were from the northern regions – 22,4 per cent from Omusati Region, 19,3 from Ohangwena and 9,5 per cent from Oshana.For most of them, it was a lifetime migration.The women showed high levels of knowledge about modes of HIV transmission and prevention while 70 per cent knew someone who had died of AIDS-related illnesses.They said HIV-AIDS campaign messages were largely ignored because they were “unrealistic”.!Nara said the the women’s personal tales reflected the difficulty that housing presented to new female migrants who had to move in with a relative, husband or boyfriend to secure accommodation.It lamented the culture of silence about sexuality and unequal gender power that gave women no authority to discuss sexual matters with their partners.