The risk of HIV among women in Malawi: The case of female domestic workers and their experiences with sexual abuse

Guided by critical ethnography and feminist discourse, this article explores the experiences of sexual abuse among Malawian female domestic workers based on interviews with young women. Thousands of rural Malawian girls orphaned by AIDS, as well as many young women who fear their partners will expose them to HIV infection, seek informal employment as domestic workers in urban areas, where there is also a high HIV prevalence. Since sexual abuse of female domestic workers by male employers was widely reported in our study, further exposure to HIV infection is of concern. Our findings indicate that gender and poverty intersect in various aspects of Malawian women's lives-including employment-to place them at risk of HIV infection.