...Africa, which Caldwell al. (1992) described as 'the only major world region still not participating in what was otherwise global fertility transition' (p. 211).

The fear of their husbands is a factor identified in the literature as militating against women's use of contraceptives, even when they want to delay or limit birth. Sometimes, these fears stem from the women's perceptions of their husbands' reactions to the use of contraceptives, as studies have shown that many women have not discussed family planning with their husbands. However, some of these fears are based on observation, as this statement by an old woman in Northern Ghana clearly demonstrates:

I cannot even speak of family planning in passing to my husband, not to mention trying to discuss it with him. Every morning whenever he hears people discussing family planning over the radio, he gets so angry and even wishes he could lay a hand on the person speaking. He fumes and shouts, cursing ... if he can threaten a wireless ... what would he do to me if I open the topic? (Bawah et al., 1999: 58)

Men's opposition to contraception is predicated on some beliefs, one of which is that it encourages irresponsible sexual behaviours. The findings of Olusanya (1969) corroborate this. He found that men control their wives' use of contraception because they hold the view that women are sexually weak and that a little freedom for them invariably leads to extra-marital intercourse. He identified this view as the main obstacle to the acceptance of modern contraception. Some recent findings not only support Olusanya's earlier finding, but also show that some men still hold this idea. For instance, it has been reported that men's control of their daughters' and wives' activities is reinforced by local and biblical interpretations, whereby 'Eve' is characterized as morally weak and unable to control her appetite, and implicitly her body and sexuality (Renne, 1993). Similarly, Bawah et al. (1999) reported an opinion expressed by a man that, 'no matter who and how a woman is, her intellect is very small' (p. 61) and as such, her use of family planning should be subjected to the husband's control.

The view that women are sexually and morally weak is not the only reason why men prevent them from using contraception; the perception of women as their husbands' property and of childbearing as their primary role in society is another crucial reason. Bawah et al. (1999) found that women in Northern Ghana are perceived as their husbands' property, or that of their husbands' families, and that their role is to 'hatch children like birds' (p. 60). The payment of dowry and bride wealth in many African cultures reinforces the belief that women become the property of their husbands once the bride wealth is paid (they are assumed to have been bought). Among the Yoruba of southwest Nigeria, husbands are referred to as 'olowo ori mi' (the one who owns me) by their wives. Among the Igbos of south east Nigeria, until a husband pays the bride price on his wife, the children whom the woman gives birth to belong to her father. The reason underlying this practice, it seems, is that the husband is yet to acquire the ownership of the 'machine for producing children'; the transfer of ownership is affected through the payment of the bride price. IsiugoAbanihe (1994) suggested as much when he wrote that 'among the Igbo, for whom bride wealth payments are high, a woman comes under the authority of her husband and takes instructions from him as the head of the family by virtue of...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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