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Fertility Beliefs & Practices in Kisii: A Cultural Exploration

Explore traditional and modern fertility beliefs, practices, and values in Kisii, examining the roles of men and women, family planning dynamics, and societal attitudes towards reproduction. Delve into the intricate balance of power and control over fertility in this unique cultural context.

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Fertility Beliefs & Practices in Kisii: A Cultural Exploration

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  1. WOMEN FORGET THAT MEN ARE THE MASTERS Fertility, Identity & Social Value Internet – Greatland Gusii Pictures www.home.attbi.com/~jomoke/panorama.htm

  2. Traditional Fertility Beliefs & Values 3 Basic Principles of Traditional Fertility Woman bear children early and continue as long as she was able • Men (any age, even if married) should invest available wealth (cattle, goats, surplus grains, etc.) as bridewealth payment for childbearing wives (selves and sons ) • Children born ‘out of wedlock’ always find a man willing to claim them as legal father

  3. Traditional Fertility Beliefs & Values • Men were commemorated by sons in the ancestor cult • Fertility associated with innocence, infertility with misfortune and guilt • Men want daughters to bring bridewealth and sons to carry family name • Childbearing capacity of a woman main value transferred for bridewealth. • Widows, Co-wife competition & ‘Women Marriages’

  4. ‘Traditional’ Family Planning • Abstinence • Natural Contraceptives for women • Diet (for men) • Polygyny

  5. Fertility Patterns in Presently National birth rates declined, Kisii rates highest in country. Women want 2-3 children of each sex . • Marital insecurity and competition among co-wives prompts women to have many children. • Views toward fertility not static –change according to circumstances. • Spouses often miscommunicate or fail to communicate desires about children.

  6. Fertility in Kissi Today • Circumcision rituals put strong emphases on male and female fertility • Parenthood is prestigious • Infertility a disaster, for both sexes • Acceptable for men not women to have extramarital affairs • Adultery only for women; except for men with married women

  7. The value of Children • Children have become economic burdens • Land Scarcity • Education expensive • Can no longer be counted on for labor

  8. Modern Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude & Practice • Introduced through mother and child care in 1960s • Traditional knowledge of natural herbal contraception dying out • Contraceptive methods very limited • Family Planning only for ‘married’ women • Women punished for illegal pregnancy

  9. Women’s Reasons For Contraceptive Use • Economic burden of children • Enough children of ‘right sex’ • Pregnancies are burdens • Need for interval between children (spacing)

  10. Women’s reason for not using contraceptives • Side effects and rumors about side effects • Limited family planning services at clinics • Social repercussions • “Children are not enough” • “Husband against” • Bridewealth not paid or want to initiate

  11. Male Attitudes • Contraceptives not for them (ok for neighbors). • Uninterested-- their parental responsibilities light. • Side effects not good. • Undermines ‘man’s authority in his house’ • “wife gets the upper hand” • “husband has no say” • “women go looking for other men”

  12. Male Attitudes • Contraception a woman’s problem – • Control (fertility & sexuality) not a man’s concern. • Why large number of children • Sons to remember their fathers • Daughters to pay for wives of sons

  13. Men and Women’s Attitudes toward condoms • Not accepted and popular • “men do not like such things” • “they make a man not function” • “Only for extra-marital sex, not for home use” • Beliefs contribute to spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDs

  14. Identity Social Value & Fertility • Obscure Reasons for Conflicting Fertility Interests • Male authority increasingly being challenged • Male identity deeply rooted ability to control wife’s fertility, and number of children he has • Women’s expanding social & economic roles within household do not put them in same position as men.

  15. Control Over FertilityWho is in Control? • Men • Woman’s fertility confers access to land • Men’s signatures needed for women to be sterilized • Male control modified and threatened by introduction of modern contraceptives • Women • Use contraceptives without their husbands knowledge • Use fertility strategically • Many men feel ‘It is women’s decision in the end’.

  16. Conflicting Fertility Interests • An inherent feature in the existential identities of women and men to have children • Childbearing role an inherent role for women; but difficult to negotiate. • For men: a ‘natural’ role to provide his wife with children. • ‘Natural’ role of childbearing may be changing slowly as new female social roles emerge.

  17. Internet – Greatland Gusii Pictures www.home.attbi.com/~jomoke/panorama.htm

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