Mukerji, Reshmi;
Osrin, David;
Mannell, Jenevieve;
(2025)
Women living with HIV face intersectional stigma from infection, domestic violence, and other marginalized identities: a qualitative study in West Bengal, India.
BMC Global and Public Health
, 3
(1)
, Article 4. 10.1186/s44263-024-00122-w.
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Women living with HIV face intersectional stigma from infection, domestic violence, and other marginalized identities a qual.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Women living with HIV bear a disproportionate burden of stigma, especially in countries where gender discrimination is more common. A result is widespread domestic violence against women. This violence is itself stigmatized, but the intersectional stigma of HIV and domestic violence has not been well studied. Our work aimed to fill this research gap by exploring how domestic violence and HIV stigma intersect with other marginalized identities in women's lives. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Kolkata, India with 31 women living with HIV and 16 key informants to gain an understanding of intersecting stigmas. Interviewees discussed women's experiences and perceptions of stigma and discrimination around HIV, domestic violence, and other marginalized identities. The coding of data was informed by an intersectional stigma framework. Thematic Network Analysis was used to group themes originating in the data into higher-order themes connecting to a global theme. RESULTS: The findings presented are a qualitative self-report of violence. The three main themes developed were (1) the intersectional stigma of HIV and domestic violence amplified stigma as a whole, (2) the intersection of multiple stigmas worsens domestic violence, and (3) the stigma of HIV hides domestic violence. Specifically, HIV stigma triggered domestic violence and perpetrators reinforced HIV stigma through verbal abuse. Women with other marginalized identities, such as having daughters or being a widow, experienced substantial violence. Domestic violence stigma was worsened by HIV stigma as women hid the violence for fear of revealing their status. As a result, help-seeking from formal and informal sources decreased, which increased women's isolation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings shape new understandings of how intersectional stigma of HIV, domestic violence, and marginalized social identities interact to amplify stigma and related violence. Women living with HIV who have multiple marginalized identities should be prioritized for violence reduction interventions.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Women living with HIV face intersectional stigma from infection, domestic violence, and other marginalized identities: a qualitative study in West Bengal, India |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s44263-024-00122-w |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-024-00122-w |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Domestic violence, HIV, India, Intersectional stigma, Women |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207880 |
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