The study is on perceptions concerning HIV/AIDS amongst MSEs that employ women. It covers employers and employees in selected categories of the services sector. The Conclusions are based on the opinions and views of respondents. The findings should provide useful information for different stakeholders concerning how MSEs that employ a majority of women are affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is hoped that part of the gap that exists in this important area will be filled by the findings of the study. At the same time, it is hoped that these findings will bring a better understanding to readers of MSE and HIV/AIDS related issues in Zimbabwe in general.
The study set out to find out whether MSEs employing women are affected negatively by the pandemic. To this effect, over 50 percent of the enterprises that were studied employed a majority of women. About 68 percent of the respondents were women. Over half of the respondents held that the frequency of HIV/AIDS in their sector was relatively low and only a small number of workers were suspected of having the HIV/AIDS.
About 60 percent of respondents believed that men were affected the most by the pandemic because of promiscuity and loose morals. Thus, enterprises employing a majority of women are considered as less likely to suffer worker loss. Respondents believed that these enterprises had relatively fewer turnovers due to HIV/AIDS.
Even though it was generally perceived that the incidence of HIV/AIDS in these MSEs was relatively low, 99 percent of the interviewees believed that productivity was negatively affected by the pandemic. Absenteeism was viewed as the main problem negatively affecting productivity. When more ill workers absent themselves from work, less work is done because the able-bodied workers are strained trying to cope with the increased workload. Thus, companies in the MSE sector need to plan and put in place strategies that will help in decreasing loss of productivity due to absenteeism.
Death was also perceived as having a negative impact on productivity. There are several factors to be considered. Losing a worker means the amount of work that was being done by that worker has to be carried by the other workers. Also, the employer needs to start looking for a replacement, which needs to be trained. The employer herself usually undertakes this task because she needs to make sure that the new employee learns the right skills for her enterprise. This puts a strain on the employer. Furthermore, the knowledge amongst customers that an employee of an enterprise has died from AIDS will cause some customers to stay away from that enterprise. These factors interplay leading to lower productivity.
As far as awareness of the pandemic was concerned, there was a relatively high awareness in all the enterprises interviewed on how the disease is spread. However, there are only few structured awareness programmes being run by the management of these MSEs. Thus, the high level of awareness can be attributed to the media and the fact that almost all of the employees have had a personal experience with HIV/AIDS through the sickness or death of a relative or friend. Most of the interviewees (both employers and employees) believed that HIV/AIDS is spread through sexual intercourse with an infected person and coming into contact with contaminated blood.
The respondents felt that although there was a relatively high level of awareness, it was time that people acted on the information by adopting responsible behaviour. Furthermore, cultural barriers made it difficult for women to put into practice the knowledge they have on HIV/AIDS. The respondents held that women have little say over the conduct of sexual relations with their husbands, even if they suspect them to be infected with the virus. Thus, even though the women in the MSE sector were aware of the disease, practically they could do little to protect themselves.
Employers and employees in the 3 sectors indicated that they did have some form of prevention methods. However, the promotion and use of prevention methods varied within the 3 sectors. Within the salons, the use of prevention methods was very high. It was also relatively high in the cafes. In the case of salons, contact between people presents a relatively high risk of transmission, whereas in cafes contact between people and food presents a relatively lower risk. Travel agencies had the least stringent preventive methods. This is because of the non-contact nature of the industry.
