Economic factors that increase women's vulnerability

A woman's limited economic security may increase the likelihood of her engaging in high-risk behaviour such as commercial sex work or transactional sex. Many economically dependent women stay in high-risk, violent marriages. Widows also face major obstacles: many are stripped of their property and left to struggle to support themselves and their children while they are at their weakest. These factors combine with violence, or the threat of violence, to create an environment within which women are trapped into having unprotected sex with HIV-positive men and are unable to seek information or treatment on HIV infection and AIDS (Human Rights Watch).