HIV, AIDS and gender issues in Indonesia : implications for policy : an application of complexity theory

Abstract

The aim of the study was to offer solutions for the enhancement of Indonesia’s HIV and AIDS policy and to suggest future possibilities. In the process, the gendered nature of the epidemic was explored. In light of the relatively lower rates of employment among Indonesian women, this study also sought to gain insights into the possible reasons for many women appearing to be attached to domesticity. In the first phase of the study, interviews with stakeholders in HIV and AIDS prevention were conducted, followed by a Delphi exercise involving 23 HIV and AIDS experts. In the second phase, 28 women from various ethnicities were interviewed, including those in polygamous and contract marriages. The overall results were interpreted through the lens of complexity theory. Fewer than half of the proposed objectives were approved by the experts in the Delphi round. These were interventions mainly aimed at the risk groups while most objectives relating to education about HIV and AIDS and safer sex for the general public failed to obtain consensus. Reasons for the lack of consensus were differences in perceptions associated with human rights, moral reasoning, the unfeasibility of certain statements and personal conviction about the control of the epidemic. Emphasis on men’s and women’s innate characteristics; men’s role as breadwinner; women’s primary role as wife, mother and educator of their children; and unplanned pregnancies emerged as major themes from the qualitative phase. While the adat and Islam revival movements may have endorsed the ideals of the New Order state ideology, Javanese rituals regarded as violating Islam teachings were abandoned. Ignorance about safer sex and HIV and AIDS was also established. Interpretation of the results through the lens of complexity theory revealed that the national HIV and AIDS policy needs to encompass interventions for the general population, which would include comprehensive sex education in schools and media campaigns focusing on women. It was found that women’s vulnerability to HIV and their penchant for domesticity appear to be associated with their perceived primary role as wife and mother, as promoted by the adat-based New Order state ideology.