Is It Big Talk or Women’s Power? Spousal Communication and Perceptions of Childbearing Desires in a Pare Community in Northern Tanzania

Ulla Larsen, Harvard University
Marida Hollos, Brown University

This paper aims to determine the influence of marital relations on spousal communication and the spouses’ perceptions of each other’s childbearing desires. Specifically, we examine whether women who are empowered within their marital unions have more voice in childbearing decisions or whether these women only talk as if this were the case. The research methodology consisted of an ethnographic study, in-depth interviews and a community-based survey. Preliminary analysis suggests that higher education, Christian religion and spousal communication about childbearing decisions are associated with agreement between the wife’s and the husband’s perception of their partner’s childbearing desires. These characteristics are associated with a more egalitarian marital union and the empowerment of women. However, in a high number of unions in which agreement was expressed by both husbands and wives, the decision was made by the husband. This indicates that while talking differently, empowered women submit to the husband’s decision-making power.