I've been thinking about this and...one reason that was left out is that women want children. I have never found the "planned " vs "unplanned" dichotomy very helpful among the moms I care for (overwhelmingly low income) because they're not planning pregnancies the way middle class people do--trying to delay them for education and other prospects.
But women seem to want kids whether or not the men in their communities offer resources, fidelity, kindness, etc. Poor women without many prospects or opportunities may want kids even more, and earlier, because when they look around their communities, they don't see tons of other avenues to a fulfilling life. I'm with you that better contraceptives would help people who want to avoid poorly timed pregnancies, but I don't feel convinced that's what's missing. Women know that pregnancy results from unprotected sex.
Desire for pregnancy occurs on a spectrum. And based on your description, it seems unlikely that if a South African woman waits, some wealthy, devoted man will materialize...
I agree with this - it's generally not seen as 'the end of the world' to have a child as a young single woman in South Africa, and in many cases the child is welcomed and loved despite the material challenges. Certainly, better contraceptives would help those who really don't want to have a child (e.g., university students) but I'm also not convinced this would help the situation more broadly. It's honestly quite tragic, and women in my social circles are increasingly becoming disillusioned about men altogether.
yes indeed. my husband's sister from Gabon is 24 yo with no job or education prospects and just announced her pregnancy. She "just" wanted a kid and the financial and emotionnal commitment of the father is not the main factor in her decision making process. She is perfectly fine with staying at her mother's house, and letting her shoulder care and finances....
One of my close friends is from SA, well educated and independant and is basically resigning herself to be an unmarried childless auntie because she just cannot find a man willing to give a monogamous commitment and she doesnt want to be a single mother, as she was raised by a single mother in a hard situation. Some days its liberating and some days its depressing, in her own words.
Lead (Pb) poisoning. Most of SSA phased out leaded petrol in 2006. You mention Bogota; due to the massive smuggling of Venezuelan petrol into Colombia, the early phaseout of leaded petrol in Colombia had little effect, as Venezuela only phased out leaded in 2005.
Add to that that most of the SSA population (one exception would be much of Ghana) has heightened uptake of lead per unit intake, and the similarity in dynamics (albeit not scale) of African and US Nigerian slave descendant populations is unsurprising.
The interesting thing will be what happens in the next five years; do the older generations get a notoriety as being sex pests, insincere, et alia? That is what I expect.
I would point out a few things to commenters. As Alice mentioned this is mostly an analysis of “southern Africa” not Africa as a whole. I’ve seen comment from other writers making claims about Africa as a whole. No. Stop. Maybe Alice could comment on this.
Second, cultures have reasons they do things polygamy is probably a better organizing system in a world of terrible poverty, extreme inequality and low male access to capital. I would argue that Christianity moved women from a place where their virginity would at least be somewhat respected, if it they put a price on it to a world where their personhood would not be respected (that of “romantic love” and “free sexual access” brought by more European ideals) and this is not a good thing.
Also countries differ in their response to kids out of wedlock and so do countries.
I've been thinking about this and...one reason that was left out is that women want children. I have never found the "planned " vs "unplanned" dichotomy very helpful among the moms I care for (overwhelmingly low income) because they're not planning pregnancies the way middle class people do--trying to delay them for education and other prospects.
But women seem to want kids whether or not the men in their communities offer resources, fidelity, kindness, etc. Poor women without many prospects or opportunities may want kids even more, and earlier, because when they look around their communities, they don't see tons of other avenues to a fulfilling life. I'm with you that better contraceptives would help people who want to avoid poorly timed pregnancies, but I don't feel convinced that's what's missing. Women know that pregnancy results from unprotected sex.
Desire for pregnancy occurs on a spectrum. And based on your description, it seems unlikely that if a South African woman waits, some wealthy, devoted man will materialize...
I agree with this - it's generally not seen as 'the end of the world' to have a child as a young single woman in South Africa, and in many cases the child is welcomed and loved despite the material challenges. Certainly, better contraceptives would help those who really don't want to have a child (e.g., university students) but I'm also not convinced this would help the situation more broadly. It's honestly quite tragic, and women in my social circles are increasingly becoming disillusioned about men altogether.
yes indeed. my husband's sister from Gabon is 24 yo with no job or education prospects and just announced her pregnancy. She "just" wanted a kid and the financial and emotionnal commitment of the father is not the main factor in her decision making process. She is perfectly fine with staying at her mother's house, and letting her shoulder care and finances....
One of my close friends is from SA, well educated and independant and is basically resigning herself to be an unmarried childless auntie because she just cannot find a man willing to give a monogamous commitment and she doesnt want to be a single mother, as she was raised by a single mother in a hard situation. Some days its liberating and some days its depressing, in her own words.
That's honestly a little sad 😔
Lead (Pb) poisoning. Most of SSA phased out leaded petrol in 2006. You mention Bogota; due to the massive smuggling of Venezuelan petrol into Colombia, the early phaseout of leaded petrol in Colombia had little effect, as Venezuela only phased out leaded in 2005.
Add to that that most of the SSA population (one exception would be much of Ghana) has heightened uptake of lead per unit intake, and the similarity in dynamics (albeit not scale) of African and US Nigerian slave descendant populations is unsurprising.
The interesting thing will be what happens in the next five years; do the older generations get a notoriety as being sex pests, insincere, et alia? That is what I expect.
I would point out a few things to commenters. As Alice mentioned this is mostly an analysis of “southern Africa” not Africa as a whole. I’ve seen comment from other writers making claims about Africa as a whole. No. Stop. Maybe Alice could comment on this.
Second, cultures have reasons they do things polygamy is probably a better organizing system in a world of terrible poverty, extreme inequality and low male access to capital. I would argue that Christianity moved women from a place where their virginity would at least be somewhat respected, if it they put a price on it to a world where their personhood would not be respected (that of “romantic love” and “free sexual access” brought by more European ideals) and this is not a good thing.
Also countries differ in their response to kids out of wedlock and so do countries.
They were ALL raped??