The African woman’s plight of reproduction: A philosophical analysis of marriage, procreation and womanhood

abstract

In many African societies, marriage is considered an important aspect of human life. With the various practices of marriage across Africa, there is at least one common purpose for traditional marriage in African societies – to procreate. Although traditional marriage is characterised as a union for procreation, procreation is often considered to be a woman’s responsibility. This responsibility is what I identify as the primary reproductive coercion that exists within African traditional marriage since the very essence of womanhood is tied to reproduction. Secondary to this, I identify various forms of reproductive coercion that are carried out by the husband, family and the community which interfere with the sexual and reproductive autonomy of women. Essentially, women end up having children out of the fear of: 1) not being considered full persons, and 2) the abuse and mistreatment that childless women are subjected to. As a way of addressing this problematic relationship between marriage and procreation, I propose a re-evaluation and reconceptualisation of African traditional marriage that rests on the ideals and principles of ubuntu and appeals to African feminism.

keywords:

• traditional African marriage
• procreation
• childlessness
• reproductive coercion
• womanhood
• African feminism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Veli Mitova for taking the time to read my draft and for providing me with very helpful comments.

I am also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers and the editor, Leverne Gething, whose comments and suggestions helped me improve this paper.

Notes

1 Violence that is directed at an individual based on their biological sex or gender identity. Gender-based violence is used to define acts of violence that are not only rooted in patriarchy but also maintain the social power of heterosexual men (Ott 2017).

2 A form of childlessness that is not intended but comes naturally (Baloyi 2017, p. 2), also referred to as infertility.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dimpho Takane Maponya

DIMPHO TAKANE MAPONYA is an assistant lecturer and a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) Philosophy Department. She lectures African Philosophy to undergraduate students at UJ. Her research interests lie broadly in African philosophy, feminism, philosophy of race, ethics and epistemic injustice. Her own research covers themes of gender, feminism and decolonisation. She is recipient of a number of awards, including the South African Women in Science Masters' Fellowship award of the Department of Science and Technology, and UJ's Faculty of Humanities Most Promising Young Teacher award for 2020.