Women and AIDS: Scapegoats or a Social Problem?

Abstract

Women have been diagnosed with AIDS since the epidemic was discovered nearly a decade ago. However, researchers, funding agencies, and service providers have ignored their special needs and concerns. One reason for this lack of concern is that women with AIDS have not yet been considered a "problem" for society as a whole, even though half the people with AIDS in developing countries and an ever increasing proportion of the diagnosed cases in this country are women. This article explores the process of defining social problems and some factors that promote or inhibit women with AIDS from being so defined and from receiving the resources that a significant problem demands.