Childlessness and Its Socio-Cultural Implication on.pdf (original) (raw)
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2017
Childlessness has major psychological and social implications for affected persons, especially in settings where fertility is highly valued. While a number of studies have documented how childlessness is perceived in these societies and the multitude of adverse consequences suffered by affected individuals, studies have not made a clear distinction between voluntary and involuntary childlessness in these settings. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, socio-cultural implication of childlessness on married couples, causes of childlessness on married couples, perception of married couples towards childlessness, and effects of childlessness on married couples and what are the copying strategies adopted by these childless couples from the selected Yoruba communities, the study explores both voluntary and involuntary childlessness. Findings show that not having children, whether voluntarily or not, contribu...
J Soc Sci, 2009
Marriage, a universal phenomenon in Africa and for the Yorubas in particular is a union between a man and a woman, which brings together families, communities and ethnic groups (Ekong 1988). Though, a universal phenomenon, cultural differences abound in the formation of the family and the universal features are important. The system of marriage differs from people to people and what is considered as the importance varies from one place to the other. One of the general cultural beliefs in Yoruba marriage is that procreation is the basic aim of marriage. Marriage and procreation are inseparable. Atere (1986) opined that the reward of marriage is expected much earlier than in the past because children are wanted for a number of reasons which are socio-cultural and economic. According to Ebigbola (2000), modernization has not weakened the deep-rooted tradition of having a child as soon as possible after marriage. This study therefore reports on the sociocultural context, perceptions and implications of childlessness among men and women from a diverse urban community in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It aimed to explore general perceptions and beliefs regarding childlessness on the family and community; to examine the extent to which development and influence of religious culture has affect marriage and childlessness; to determine if childlessness increases the incidence
PLoS ONE, 2013
Background: Infertility is a major medical condition that affects many married couples in sub-Saharan African and as such associated with several social meanings. This study therefore explored community's perception of childbearing and childlessness in Northern Ghana using the Upper West Region as a case study. Methods: The study was exploratory and qualitative using in-depth and key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Fifteen marriage unions with infertility (childless), forty-five couples with children, and eight key informants were purposively sampled and interviewed using a semi-structured interview guides. Three focus group discussions were also carried out, one for childless women, one for women with children and one with men with children. The data collected were transcribed, coded, arranged, and analyzed for categories and themes and finally triangulated. Results: The study revealed that infertility was caused by both social and biological factors. Socially couples could become infertile through supernatural causes such as bewitchment, and disobediences of social norms. Abortion, masturbation and use of contraceptives were also identified as causes of infertility. Most childless couples seek treatment from spiritualist, traditional healers and hospital. These sources of treatment are used simultaneously. Conclusion: Childbearing is highly valued in the community and Childlessness is highly engendered, and stigmatised in this community with manifold social consequences. In such a community therefore, the concept of reproductive choice must encompass policies that make it possible for couples to aspire to have the number of children they wish.
Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2014
Although infertility causes women considerable grief, social stigma, and economic deprivation, scholars have paid little attention to infertility's definitions that may depart from the standard Western usage and how such definitions influence the way women experience the condition. This article, by listening to individual women's experiences of infertility in two Nigerian communities, examines these definitions and differentiates between culturally salient categories of infertility. In distinguishing between different kinds of childless women and those with low fertility, we intend to enhance understandings of infertility by considering women';s subjective understandings of the condition and thus moving beyond the current medical definition. By comparing women's experiences in two different ethnic groups in Nigeria, we show how distinct forms of kinship structures and social organizations shape the ways low fertility is defined, managed, and experienced.
Childlessness : perceptions , acceptability and the gender dimension
2011
Childlessness has major psychological and social implications for couples and especially for women in settings where fertility is highly valued (Van Balen and Bos, 2001). In such settings, childlessness is usually involuntary. Involuntary childlessness may be caused by infertility, pregnancy loss, stillbirth or child death (Van Balen, 2000). This paper focuses on both voluntary and involuntary childlessness. Despite the importance of the issue, not many studies on voluntary childlessness have been carried out in Africa. Most available studies on this topic are based on America and Western European societies. Our definition of voluntary childlessness follows Chancey and Dumais’s (2009) definition of voluntarily childless women, to apply to both fertile men and women who have never had children, desire to remain childless and without any underlying assumption that they are advantaged or disadvantaged in relation to those with children.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2013
Background: Infertility is a global reproductive health issue that affects many individuals and couples. Despite the high prevalence of infertility in Ghana, no study has been done on the experiences of infertile couples in Northern Ghana. This study therefore explored the experiences of infertile couples in Northern Ghana using the Upper West Region as a case study. Methods: We interviewed fifteen childless couples, forty-five couples with children, and eight key informants using a semi-structured interview guide. We also carried out three focus group discussions; one for childless women, one for women with children and one for men with children. The data were transcribed, coded, arranged and analyzed for categories and themes. Results: Infertile couples are socially stigmatised and excluded from leadership roles in their communities. Couples without children are denied membership in the ancestral world thereby losing the opportunity to live again. Both males and females are engaged in sex with multiple partners to prove their fertility. Conclusions: Both men and women suffer from the social effects of childlessness. The desire to have biological children in a pronatalist society results in unhealthy practices. Health policy makers and gender advocates should be more concerned about infertility.
“A Child is as important as Life”: Reflections on the Value of Children from Infertile Couples
Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences
BACKGROUND: Most African societies have no tradition of idealized celibacy or voluntary childlessness. Although the norms on parenthood are changing, adults are customarily expected to marry and bear children. AIM: This study examined the perceived value of children among infertile couples in Kwara South, Nigeria. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven infertile couples recruited through snowball sampling technique. Data were organized using ATLAS.ti 8 and analyzed by thematic analysis. RESULTS: The study revealed that perceptions of the value of children are embedded in sociocultural norms and are strongly linked to religion, patriarchy, and the need for family/marriage sustainability. Childbearing was perceived as the fulfillment of divine injunction; as such, children were regarded as divine. While women believed children are sources of fulfillment and balanced life, most men saw them as life itself. Boys are collectively thought to ensure lineage security ...
Social science & medicine, 2009
This paper examines how socio-economic contexts shape local meanings of infertility, how the prevalence of infertility affects these meanings, and how the above affect community responses, life experiences and infertility treatment-seeking behaviors in two African communities. The paper is based on interdisciplinary research conducted among the Ijo and the Yakurr people of southern Nigeria that included a survey of approximately 100 infertile women and a matching sample of 100 fertile women, as well as in-depth ethnographic interviews with infertile and fertile women in two communities: Amakiri in Delta State and Lopon in Cross River State. In-depth interview results show that female infertility is more problematic among the Ijo in Amakiri, where kinship is patrilineal (traced through the father's side), than among the Yakurr in Lopon, where kinship is double unilineal (traced through both parents). Childless women in Ijo society are not only disadvantaged economically but are prevented from attaining full adult womanhood. They therefore leave the community more often than other members. In Lopon there is also a strong preoccupation with fertility as a central fact of life, but infertile women receive support from maternal kin as well as voluntary associations serving as support groups. Our survey data confirm that there are significant differences between the life experiences of infertile and fertile women and between the infertile women of the two communities. The overall findings indicate that while there are variations in the extent to which infertility is considered problematic, the necessity for a woman to have a child remains basic in this region. Motherhood continues to define an individual woman's treatment in the community, her self-respect and her understanding of womanhood.
Journal of Biosocial Science, 2010
SummaryThis paper examines the experiences of women with infertility in two Nigerian communities with different systems of descent and historically different levels of infertility. First, the paper focuses on the life experiences of individual women across the two communities and second, it compares these experiences with those of their fertile counterparts, in each community. In doing this, women who are childless are distinguished from those with subfertility and compared with high-fertility women. The research is based on interdisciplinary research conducted among the Ijo and Yakurr people of southern Nigeria, which included a survey of approximately 100 childless and subfertile women and a matching sample of 100 fertile women as well as in-depth ethnographic interviews with childless and subfertile women in two communities: Amakiri in Delta State and Lopon in Cross River State. The findings indicate that while there are variations in the extent to which childlessness is consider...