Masculinity, Money, and the Postponement of Parenthood in Nigeria

In southeastern Nigeria, several interconnected processes of social change are combining to delay parenthood. Most of the demographic and social sciences literature examining the postponement of parenthood has paid primary attention to women. To address this gap, this article foregrounds the changin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPopulation and development review Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 101 - 120
Main Author Smith, Daniel Jordan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2020
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Demographic transition
Demographic transition theory
Demographics
Deprivation
Economic indicators
Fathers
Marriage
Masculinity
Men
Money
NOTES AND COMMENTARY
Parents & parenting
Postponement
Social change
Social interactions
Social sciences
Uncertainty
Women
Nigeria
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Summary:In southeastern Nigeria, several interconnected processes of social change are combining to delay parenthood. Most of the demographic and social sciences literature examining the postponement of parenthood has paid primary attention to women. To address this gap, this article foregrounds the changing social landscape of masculinity as a significant context within which to situate these demographic changes. At the core of Nigerian men's perceptions, decisions, and behaviors with regard to delaying fatherhood is a fundamental contradiction, one that seems to be common in many settings—at least many African settings—of contemporary demographic transition. The contradiction is that while the postponement of parenthood is associated historically with positive social and economic indicators, when Nigerian men articulate their rationales for delaying fatherhood (and marriage) they commonly describe feelings of uncertainty connected to a sense of struggle and deprivation. This article connects men 's anxieties about—and delays embarking on—marriage and parenthood to their experiences of economic uncertainty, and specifically to the perceived need for money as the foundation for successful reproduction.
Bibliography:Daniel_J_Smith@brown.edu
.
Daniel Jordan Smith, Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Email
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0098-7921
1728-4457
DOI:10.1111/padr.12310