<strong>National</strong> <strong>Campaign</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>: Multiple Concurrent Partnerships42Where Botswana differs from other, poorer countries in the region is in the nature of the material benefitsthat a sexual relationship serves to provide. Relationships whose function is to provide for consumerist‘needs’ are more common, and those whose function is to provide for survival needs less common than inneighbouring countries. Perceived consumerist ‘needs’ are driven by the media and peer pressure / peer envyand include non-essential clothes, transport, household goods and gadgets and nights out. The discourse usedby women to describe the function of these relationships is often one of ‘survival sex’ or need, even wherethese are actually consumerist wants; relationships may also fulfil a combination of consumerist and morebasic needs. Contrary to the dated stereotype of rich men preying on vulnerable women, women are oftenactive agents in seeking different or additional partners who can fulfil unmet needs in their life.For women engaged in concurrent partnerships, the relationships whose primary function is material gainmay supplement a main partnership that meets more emotional needs; for other women, the primary functionof each relationship may be classified as material gain. There are a number of sub-typologies of such partnerships,including: women maintained as small houses; ‘ministers’ maintained by young women; and one-nightor repeat sex for drinks, rides or gifts. While most cross-generational partnerships can be characterised astransactional, not all transactional partnerships are cross-generational.Key informants mentioned monetary and material benefits as the main motivating factor for engagementwith multiple partners, affirming that the type of benefits depend on economic status, but vary from basicneeds like food, rent and utilities to luxury items such as furniture, cell phones and clothing. Key informantscited women and their children’s dependence on men for financial support as a barrier to leaving unfaithfulpartners, and fear that financial support will be cut off as (another) barrier to challenging unfaithful men. Regardingcross-generational relationships, key informants noted that girls’ families also benefit materially fromtheir daughters’ relationships with older men and this can lead parents to turn a blind eye.The financial imbalance in these partnerships typically translates into a lack of negotiating power of when andhow (i.e. with or without a condom) for women, whether in a one-night stand, a long term relationship oranything in between. The actual or perceived compulsion to reciprocate material benefits from a relationship,and/or the desire to continue benefitting materially, leads to women involved in partnerships whose primaryfunction in their lives is material gain to have even less negotiating power over sexual matters than women inother types of relationships have.Looking for a Potential Main PartnerMen and women looking for a serious or stable relationship may get through a number of short-term partnersduring their quest. These relationships may overlap while their potential is assessed, or may only beviewed as a potential main relationship by one partner, while the other views it as a short term affair to fulfilbasic sexual needs or provide sexual variety. However, the main rationale for including this partnership typein an MCP typology is that, even where relationships do not overlap, those seeking a main partner may gothrough 2 or more short term efforts during a year and ‘more than 1 partner during the last 12 months’ isan often-used definition of concurrency. This type is different from the others listed because (at least one of)the partnership’s actual or potential function(s) in the mind of the seeker is emotional rather than sexual ormaterial.
<strong>National</strong> <strong>Campaign</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>: Multiple Concurrent Partnerships43Figure 5-1 below shows the main types of MCP in Botswana.Figure 5-1 Typology of MCPMain function of extrarelationshipsAvoidingenforcedabstinenceSexual varietyMaterial gainPotentialprimarypartnerPhysicalseparationOne nightstandsConsumeristwantsPregnancy /childbirthbreakNo-stringspartnersSurvivalsexTypes of MCPTransitionbetweenpartnersSidekicksOne-offsSparewheel[having]Small houses[being]Small housesComing of age[having]Ma 14[being]Ma 14
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