Women's motivation for family planning in Kisii District: potentials and barriers

This paper is tentatively arguing that women in Kisii District are confronted with a number of factors which are acting both as potentials as well as barriers to their motivation for family planning. Focus is put on progressive and regressive changes in female status and role at the household level. Factors such as changing sexual division of labour, changing gender relations and gender roles and changing decision-making pattern are discussed as well as the way in which these changes are interacting positively or negatively on women’s motivation for limiting their child births and making use of family planning. As men and their attitude to family planning seem to create a major barrier for many women, research on men was included in the study, and their attitudes are tentatively discussed. Other factors interacting with women's motivation for family planning are considered to be value and costs of children and fears of side-effects. Also availability and quality of family planning services are discussed. It is argued that a number of potential users are lost because of inadequate services

Intimate Partner Violence, Relationship Power Inequity and the Role of Sexual and Social Risk Factors in the Production of Violence among Young Women Who Have Multiple Sexual Partners in a Peri-Urban Setting in South Africa

This paper aims to assess the extent and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV), explore relationship power inequity and the role of sexual and social risk factors in the production of violence among young women aged 16-24 reporting more than one partner in the past three months in a peri-urban setting in the Western Cape, South Africa. Recent estimates suggest that every six hours a woman is killed by an intimate partner in South Africa, making IPV a leading public health problem in the country. While there is mounting evidence that levels of IPV are high in peri-urban settings in South Africa, not much is known about how it manifests among women who engage in concomitantly high HIV risk behaviours such as multiple sexual partnering, transactional sex and age mixing. We know even less about how such women negotiate power and control if exposed to violence in such sexual networks.Two hundred and fifty nine women with multiple sexual partners, residing in a predominantly Black peri-urban community in the Western Cape, South Africa, were recruited into a bio-behavioural survey using Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). After the survey, focus group discussions and individual interviews were conducted among young women and men to understand the underlying factors informing their risk behaviours and experiences of violence.86% of the young women experienced IPV in the past 12 months. Sexual IPV was significantly correlated with sex with a man who was 5 years or older than the index female partner (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.0-3.2) and transactional sex with most recent casual partner (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.8). Predictably, women experienced high levels of relationship power inequity. However, they also identified areas in their controlling relationships where they shared decision making power.Levels of IPV among young women with multiple sexual partners were much higher than what is reported among women in the general population and shown to be associated with sexual risk taking. Interventions targeting IPV need to address sexual risk taking as it heightens vulnerability to violence

"Women forget that men are the masters" : gender antagonism and socio-economic change in Kisii District, Kenya

A study about conflicts between men and women in contemporary Kiskii, Kenya. The author argues that male identity, sense of worth and prestige have been more deeply affected by socio-economic change than that of female identity. Feminists, in particular, will find this study deeply provocative but a good read.Contents: 1. Background to the Study -- 2. Historical Background - Gender Constructions and Social Value in Pre-Colonial and Colonial Kisii -- 3. The Making of Males and Females in Contemporary Kisii -- 4. Marriage, Identity and Social Value -- 5. The Contemporary Kisii Household - Gender Roles, Identity and Social Value in Every Day Life -- 6. Fertility, Identity and Social Value -- 7. Sexuality, Identity and Social Value -- 8. Gender Antagonism, Social Value and Identities</p