Men's perspectives on fertility and fatherhood in urban Kilimanjaro

Abstract

This paper discusses male perspectives on reproduction and parenthood, an important and under-researched aspect of population dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa. Findings from recent work in the city of Moshi, Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) suggest that a range of concerns about fertility and family life among men have yet to be documented and analysed. Men frequently expressed their concerns about fertility desires and family relations in terms of a gendered experience of social and economic hardship. In this paper, in-depth interviews and data from male and female surveys have been used to examine fertility desires of younger men, the timing of their entry into reproductive life, and cultural values connected with the role of fathers in shaping the character of children. Such an inquiry is especially relevant in Kilimanjaro, where desired family sizes are much lower, and contraceptive use is much higher than anywhere else in Tanzania. It is apparent that demographic trends and shifts in the nature of productive life in Kilimanjaro have necessitated changes in the character of parenthood and the meaning of children. Consequently, cultural values surrounding reproduction are undergoing substantial change. Men cannot be thought of as a broadly pronatalist bloc, or even as significantly more desirous of children than their spouses. Although men's actions towards their reproductive partners and their children are culturally directed, they are expressed in local discourse as being highly situational and motivated by the external influences of economic and social constraint. Show more