Reflections on challenges of preferring the male child in an African marriage – A practical theological observation

Baloyi, Magezi E.; Manala, Matsobane J.

doi:10.4102/ve.v40i1.1852

Cited by 5 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Gender is a significant factor in the birth of African children with couples preferring boys over girls, as noted by Baloyi and Manala [17]. For example, among the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, to which Prof. Wangarĩ Maathai belonged, the birth of a boy was heralded with five ululations, whereas it was four for a girl child, according to Wanjiru [20].…”

Section: Women's Destinies Through Gendered Lensesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This argument has been used to marginalize and deprive the girl child of education in collective societies [11,12]. Therefore, boys are regarded as social security for elderly parents, making them more valuable than girls and causing marriages without male children to be problematic for women [17,21].…”

Section: Women's Destinies Through Gendered Lensesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marriage, though a contractual agreement is expected to be a lifelong commitment [52]. Because marriage in Africa is linked to procreation, there is a stigma attached to childlessness or barrenness, as noted by Baloyi and Manala [17]. The inability for a couple to continue bloodlines and kinship through childbearing has social, emotional, and psychological implications.…”

Section: Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas African patriarchy has been faulted with gender inequalities in Africa [10][11][12], the colonial legacy of Western patriarchy on the same has not received sufficient scholarly attention, even in Africa. For example, colonialism impoverished and complicated African women's lives through gendered forms of torture, thefts of ancestral lands, male detentions and murders, adult and child forced labor, displacements, family separation, and restrictions on women's education [2,[13][14][15][16][17]. Moreover, Mathur and Mulwafu [18] locate environmental injustice within colonial practices of resource extraction and capitalism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Black, Female, and Divorced: A Discourse Analysis of Wangarĩ Maathai’s Leadership with Reflections from Naleli Morojele‘s Study of Rwandan and South African Female Political Leaders

Stuhlhofer

2022

Societies

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Marriage and divorce are factors that impact female leadership in Africa. Women are defined by their roles as wives and mothers and less as leaders. There is a dearth of research on the influence of marriage and divorce on female leadership in Africa. Most studies have focused on the societal importance of marriage and the negative effects of divorce on families. Using Wangarĩ Maathai’s biography Unbowed, this paper explores the role of marriage and divorce and their intersection with Maathai’s leadership. To enrich the analysis, I introduce insights from Naleli Morojele’s study of Rwandan and South African female political leaders. African feminist thought, transformative leadership theory, and African concepts of marriage and divorce form the theoretical framework. The main findings indicate that Maathai’s leadership is transformative. African feminism recognizes the role of men in women’s equality. Female leadership has increased in Africa, though it contends with socio-cultural attitudes and colonial legacies that fuel its skepticism. Marriage is a duty and the focus of existence in African thought and divorce is synonymous with failure. Women’s disunity on gender issues is problematic. Female leadership is very demanding and costly to family relationships. These findings are important in identifying gaps between policy and social attitudes on female leadership in Africa.

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Section: Women's Destinies Through Gendered Lensesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Women's Destinies Through Gendered Lensesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Black, Female, and Divorced: A Discourse Analysis of Wangarĩ Maathai’s Leadership with Reflections from Naleli Morojele‘s Study of Rwandan and South African Female Political Leaders

Stuhlhofer

2022

Societies

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“…It is important to note, however, that Africans' strong desire for children is indeed for male children(Baloyi & Manala 2019).Agbor (2016:4) observes that in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa, 'strong preference for sons [has] become institutionalized and … formed part of the way of life of the people'. Writing on the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria,Oforchukwu (2010:38) states, 'For an Igbo man, producing children, especially male children, is important to continue the family lineage; otherwise, the family would become extinct.'…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hannah’s prayer for a male child: Interpreting 1 Samuel 1:11 in the Nigerian context

Ademiluka

2021

In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi

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Studies have shown that a preference for male children is prevalent in many parts of the world, including Africa. In Nigeria, with its patriarchal family structure, a preference for sons has become an institutionalised way of life. Hence, the Hannah narrative in 1 Samuel 1 is of high relevance in Nigeria. The story of Hannah’s barrenness has often been employed to encourage childless Christians to have faith in God for children, but not many have paid attention to her request specifically for a male child in verse 11. To this end, Hannah’s prayer for a male child is examined in this article against the context of the strong desire for male children in Nigeria. The article employed the historical-critical and descriptive methods. Apart from the exegesis of 1 Samuel 1:11, using the descriptive approach, the author interacted with and utilised relevant material on preference for male children in Nigeria. The research found that Hannah’s request for a son is consistent with the pattern of the narratives of barren mothers in the Old Testament in which all asked for male children. Hannah’s specific request for a male child is therefore a reflection of the preference for sons in ancient Israel, which derived principally from the fact that, in that society, male children were greatly desired for the purpose of the perpetuation of the husband’s lineage, as well as for land inheritance. Understanding Hannah’s prayer for a son in this way, makes 1 Samuel 1:11 relevant in Nigeria where people prefer male children for similar reasons. In view of the fact that the preference for sons has a fatal effect on female children, as well as their mothers, it amounts to women abuse, which makes it an issue of pastoral significance in Nigeria. 1 Samuel 1:11 is thus relevant in the context of marital conflicts among Nigerian Christian couples arising from male child preference. To this end, teaching to illuminate this preference for sons should form an integral part of the marriage theology of the church in Nigeria.Contribution: The article is a contribution in the field of marriage theology, in that it identifies the preference for male children as a possible factor for marital disharmony among Nigerian Christian couples.

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Analysis of data and common mutations encountered during routine parentage testing in Zimbabwe

Thelingwani,

Jonhera,

Masimirembwa

2024

Sci Rep

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We analyzed parentage data collected over a ten-year period in a Zimbabwean DNA testing laboratory. Parentage case types, prevalence, exclusion data, mutations rates and observed genotyping irregularities were analyzed. We report analysis results from 1303 cases. DNA extraction and STR typing was conducted using standard commercial kits. Paternity was the most requested test (87.37%) followed by the indirect biological kinship tests (7.01%). Duo paternity (motherless) was the most common paternity test for both regular and court cases. We observed 367 paternity exclusions from 1135 cases, giving an overall paternity exclusion rate of 32.33%. Maternity had the lowest exclusion rate (8.33%), with criminal cases having the highest paternity (61.11%) and maternity (33.33%) exclusion rates. The number of mismatched STR loci ranged from 2–12 for duo cases and 4–18 for the trio cases. FGA, D2S1338, D18S51 and D2S441 were the most informative markers for exclusion. We detected 30 mutations out of 837 cases with an estimated paternal and maternal mutation rate of 0.0021 and 0.0011 respectively. Triallelic patterns were only observed at the TPOX locus with allele 10 and 11 being the extra alleles transmitted. Our report provides forensic parameters which can improve parentage and forensic analysis in Zimbabwe.

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Reflections on challenges of preferring the male child in an African marriage – A practical theological observation

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Black, Female, and Divorced: A Discourse Analysis of Wangarĩ Maathai’s Leadership with Reflections from Naleli Morojele‘s Study of Rwandan and South African Female Political Leaders

Black, Female, and Divorced: A Discourse Analysis of Wangarĩ Maathai’s Leadership with Reflections from Naleli Morojele‘s Study of Rwandan and South African Female Political Leaders

Hannah’s prayer for a male child: Interpreting 1 Samuel 1:11 in the Nigerian context

Analysis of data and common mutations encountered during routine parentage testing in Zimbabwe

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