Male and Female Condom Use by Sex Workers in Zimbabwe: Acceptability and Obstacles

methods of contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infection (STI) has come from women from all walks of life, ranging from rural peasant to professional women.1,2,3 Women-controlled methods are those that women can use for themselves without necessarily needing the cooperation of their male partners. The demand for these methods arises from the frustration many women feel, that they are unable to protect their own health and wellbeing. For the majority of women living in the Third World, decisions about their reproductive health are made by their male partners, their families, or health workers.4 That a similar powerlessness is felt by women in Western societies, despite their general social and economic advancement, has also been argued.5,6 Inherent in women’s demand for more control over their own health and sexuality is that it should be accessible to women of all classes and regions. Socially disadvantaged women all over the world face more barriers to effective health care, while economic dependence on their male partners gives them less power to insist on sexual health protection. Rich women in poor countries, on the other hand, have commonly had better means of buying contraception, infertility and abortion services, at the same time as having greater resources to break out of deleterious relationships. In many situations men are supportive of their women partners and cooperative in pre venting pregnancy as well as STIs. However, while the most effective methods of pregnancy prevention are methods used by women: