‘If she gets married when she is young, she will give birth to many kids’: a qualitative study of child marriage practices amongst nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya

Abstract

Cislaghi (2021): 'If she gets married when she is young, she will give birth to many kids': a qualitative study of child marriage practices amongst nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya, Culture, Health & Sexuality,

Gender norms and family planning amongst pastoralists in Kenya: a qualitative study in Wajir and Mandera

“…This echoes what we found in our separate analysis on early marriage. 45 Some individuals expressed a desire to have smaller families, which may reveal shifts in perceptions and norms.…”

“…Our prior formative qualitative research in North Eastern Kenya highlights how gendered norms influence early and child marriage practices amongst pastoralists and associated early childbearing, 45 as well as men’s role in FP decision-making 46 and possible health provider bias in providing FP services in this context. 47 Few studies explore the reproductive health preferences, including fertility desires and contraceptive preferences, of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralist women and men, or the social and gender norms underpinning these in Kenya.…”

Improving provision of family planning among pastoralists in Kenya: Perspectives from health care providers, community and religious leaders

“…family size) and FP methods, in turn influencing FP use. As part of this, we identified key reference groups, including women of reproductive age (Bhatkal et al, 2016;Keats et al, 2018;Mugo et al, 2018;Croft et al, 2018;Dougherty et al, 2018;Msoka et al, 2019;Ndayizigiye et al, 2017;Schwarz et al, 2019;Hyttel et al, 2012;FitzGerald and Samia, 2017;Solo and Festin, 2019;Dynes et al, 2018;Starling et al, 2017;Sidze et al, 2014;Hamid and Stephenson, 2006;N'Gbichi et al, 2019;Parsitau, 2017;Adedini et al, 2018;Agadjanian, 2013;Steven et al, 2019;Ali et al, 2019;Abebe et al, 2016;Scharrer, 2018;Lowe et al, 2021;Hossain et al, 2018;Cislaghi and Heise, 2017;Braun and Clarke, 2006;Cislaghi and Heise, 2018;United Nations Foundation, 2017;El Shiekh and van der Kwaak, 2015;Alemayehu et al, 2016;Ruark et al, 2019;Andajani-Sutjahjo et al, 2018;Ndinda et al, 2017;May, 2016), local leaders, health providers, male partners, and family/friends. Using this initial codebook, LK and RH read through a selection of interview transcripts independently, making note of any new and emerging codes, the final codebook was refined and agreed upon following frequent meetings.…”

“…Limited interviewer probing made a deeper analysis of interesting research avenues challenging. Finally, we do not present the views of community members themselves in this paper, which have been presented elsewhere (Lowe et al, 2021) and in forthcoming publications from the project team. Despite these limitations, this qualitative research contributes to the limited research that examines HCP and community perceptions on FP amongst pastoralists.…”

“…Data for this paper come from a larger qualitative study with 203 individuals who participated in either an interview or focus group, which explored social norms, fertility preferences and modern FP amongst nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralist girls, boys, women and men. More information about methodology and additional findings from the overall study can be found elsewhere (Lowe et al, 2021, Hossain et al, 2018. This paper focuses on interviews with HCPs working in health centres located in Wajir and Mandera (n=4), community leaders (n=4), and religious leaders (n=4) from the pastoralist communities that the health centres serve.…”