Lowe, H;
Kenny, L;
Hassan, R;
Bacchus, LJ;
Njoroge, P;
Dagadu, NA;
Hossain, M;
(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
10.1080/13691058.2021.1893821.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
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.pdf - Published Version Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Child marriage is associated with adverse health and social outcomes for women and girls. Among pastoralists in Kenya, child marriage is believed to be higher compared to the national average. This paper explores how social norms and contextual factors sustain child marriage in communities living in conflict-affected North Eastern Kenya. In-depth interviews were carried out with nomadic and semi-nomadic women and men of reproductive age in Wajir and Mandera counties. Participants were purposively sampled across a range of age groups and community types. Interviews were analysed thematically and guided by a social norms approach. We found changes in the way young couples meet and evidence for negative perceptions of child marriage due to its impact on the girls’ reproductive health and gender inequality. Despite this, child marriage was common amongst nomadic and semi-nomadic women. Two overarching themes explained child marriage practices: 1) gender norms, and 2) desire for large family size. Our findings complement the global literature, while contributing perspectives of pastoralist groups. Contextual factors of poverty, traditional pastoral lifestyles and limited formal education opportunities for girls, supported large family norms and gender norms that encouraged and sustained child marriage.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | '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 |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13691058.2021.1893821 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2021.1893821 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Child marriage, early childbearing, gender norms, reproductive health |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10124817 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
