Forced/coerced sterilization of hiv-positive women in the Southern African region in the context of reproductive justice and intersectional gender-based violence

Abstract

HIV-positive women have been targets of forced and coerced sterilization which persists despite research showing that if managed correctly the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV can be reduced to less than 1%. This study draws on reproductive justice, the intersectionality framework, and feminist content analysis to examine how different identities such as poverty, age, lower educational level and racism intersect to make the HIV+ women who are victims of forced and coerced sterilization additionally vulnerable to that form of oppression. My research amplifies the voices of the HIV+ women who are victims of forced sterilization and contributes to feminist scholarship by expanding the use of the intersectionality framework in Africa and how other less researched identities such as poverty, level of education, and age intersect in HIV+ women who are targeted for sterilization.