Venerated or reviled – who’s knowledge counts?

This newsletter explores some of the realities impacting on the extent to which women’s rights are accessible and realisable, as well as on the adequacy of responses to women’s risks and vulnerabilities to both HIV infection and human rights abuses. The ‘question of evidence’ as a global challenge in the response to women and HIV; engaging men and the role of men’s organisations in the process of gender transformation; the need to engender the response to HIV in India; and the extent to which sexual and reproductive rights are realisable for women in polygamous relations are some of the issues discussed in this edition. This issue also discusses the notion of ‘choice’ for pregnant women in a rural context; shares ‘musings’ on HIV testing and pregnancy; and introduces ‘conversations’, a new feature, bringing forward the voices of women who have become an integral part of the response to women and women’s rights in the context of HIV and AIDS.