HIV AND AIDS CAREGIVING: WHAT KEEPS MEN AT THE MARGINS? RE-FRAMING THE NARRATIVES OF GENDER AND CAREGIVING AT THE HOUSEHOLD LEVEL

Abstract

Caregiving plays such a vital role in improving the welfare of the sick or aged household members; however, this role is often undervalued or at most rendered invisible in the oÿcial health care systems. In situations of rigid gender occupational segregation, and more so within the African patriarchal settings, caregiving is almost a femme identity where females are viewed as naturally possessing the qualities to nurture and to define the essence of care provision. Home-based HIV and AIDS caregiving is not any unique to this gendered segregation of roles, at the centre of it lies stereotypes and beliefs about the appropriate roles for males and females, hence, a large number of women and girls compared to men and boys are seen as the natural providers of care. Males found to provide care against such dominant ideals are often labelled circumstantial and feminine indicating incidences of denigration and ridicule in conformity with society’s expectation of ‘real men’s’ occupation. In this paper, it is argued that these men’s input is not only a pathway to modelling male champions against gender occupational stereotypes but also a sure way of fulfilling the global call for equal sharing of care responsibilities including in the context of HIV and AIDS care. As such, re-framing the narratives of caregiving as used in this paper refers to a situation where men deliberately work towards overcoming the stereotyped ‘distance and their being separate in the care provision’ to be at the centre of caregiving as part of defeminising caregiving.