BUENOS AIRES, Dec 16 (IPS) - Argentine women who are poor and between the ages of 15 and 24 are the group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, say experts, citing traditional gender roles, lack of information, and the asymmetry of male-female power in sexual relations as contributing factors.

The epidemic has spread rapidly through Argentina's female population in the last few years. In 1988, the gender ratio for people with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was one
woman for every 14.5 men with the disease. The ratio today is one woman to 3.2 men.

This data is in keeping with the global trend known as the ”feminisation” AIDS, which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The women most vulnerable are adolescents, even as young as 12, according to local experts.

In Argentina, 65.6 percent of women who have contracted the disease are younger than 30, and most were infected with HIV during adolescence, reports physician Mabel Bianco in a study titled ”Gender and Adolescent Sexuality: problems related to reproduction and HIV/AIDS prevention.”

The advance of the disease among young women has serious consequences for children. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among children in Argentina is seven percent, the highest in Latin America, and 97 percent of the cases are the result of mother-to- child infection.

Researchers Dalia Szulik and Nina Zamberlin, of the Centre for State and Society Studies, highlight the need to look at the various aspects of the problem, but particularly young women's ”individual, social and institutional vulnerability” to the epidemic.

In their report ”To Be a Woman, To Be at Risk”, Szulik and Zamberlin focus on social and institutional vulnerability because they consider the individual to be subsidiary to the two.

The country's economic woes of the past two decades and the recent collapse have been particularly hard on young people. They have seen their access to employment, education, and health services deteriorate significantly, Szulik told IPS.

”Employment opportunities for low-income youth are scarce, and even more so for young women, who are paid less and face numerous obstacles in gaining access to jobs in the formal sector
of the economy,” says the Szulik-Zamberlin study.

In the health arena, young women from poor families who work in the informal sector are at greater risk of becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases and have fewer opportunities for information on disease prevention.

In addition to greater vulnerability due to economic and social reasons, young women tend to be more exposed to infection as a result of their gender, in other words, because of cultural norms and expectations that define ”appropriate behaviour” for men and for women.

Unprotected sex is the cause of HIV transmission in 45 percent of all cases in Argentina, but among adolescents nearly 60 percent of infection among males is related to intravenous drug use, while 57 percent of females are infected through unprotected sexual contact.

”Young woman are particularly vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS for biological and socio-cultural reasons, the latter based on gender,” according to Szulik and Zamberlin.

The risk of infection is greater among women younger than 20 because in that period of maturity the walls of the vagina are thinner and more likely to suffer lesions during sexual intercourse -- thus allowing the entrance of the virus into the bloodstream.

Furthermore, young women in Argentina tend to be less aware of the symptoms and less likely to seek medical treatment. According to experts, most young women infected with HIV only learn of that fact when they undergo a pregnancy test.

In strongly Roman Catholic Argentina, ”the traditional gender roles are that women should be sexually ignorant and passive, and value their virginity, while men with multiple sexual partners are tolerated,” says the study.

”This gives males greater sexual decision-making power, denies women the option of protecting themselves, and increases their exposure to sexually transmitted diseases,” write Szulik and Zamberlin.

Sociologists Edith Pantelides and Rosa Geldstein conducted research by interviewing adolescent women seeking gynaecological services at Argerich Hospital in Buenos Aires. Half of the women consulted said they thought they had become sexually active while they were too young.

Often, a young woman ”is unable to refuse to take part in sexual relations, even when it is not a question of physical force... her vulnerability lies in the fear of losing the man's affection if she refuses,” according to the study by Pantelides and Geldstein titled ”I Didn't Want to, but...” which focuses on adolescent women from the middle and low income sectors.

One of the contexts in which ”gender asymmetry is evident” is in the decision to use a condom during sexual relations. ”Young women do not have the power to refuse sex without a condom even when they are aware of the risks,” say the authors.

For reasons related to culture and gender, when it comes to sexual relations most women are more concerned about preventing pregnancy than about becoming infected with a disease. While  among males the priorities are reversed because ”they consider pregnancy prevention a women's issue,” states the Pantelides-Geldstein study.

In a survey of high school students conducted by Jorge Méndez Ribas, 33 percent of the girls responding said they had not used a condom the first time they had sex, and just 16 percent of boys said they had used a condom the first time.

Szulik and Zamberlin state in their study that unplanned sexual relations are common among adolescents. Two-thirds of the male students Méndez consulted said they did not carry a condom with them, and even fewer girls did for fear of being considered ”promiscuous”.

Public policies also fail to pay adequate attention to HIV/AIDS prevention among youths, which is part of the ”institutional vulnerability” that Szulik and Zamberlin says contribute to the risks faced by this sector of the Argentine population.