|
By Richmond
Tiemoko
|
|
| Photo
Story: © 2004 Courtney Crosson, Courtesy
of Photoshare In Samburu, Kenya, a crowded
room of women wait with drying nails for the
ceremonial kidnapping of the bride by the
groom’s family. In Samburu tradition,
women of the bride’s family must firmly
resist this kidnapping to show their love
for their bethrothed relative. Eventually,
the bride is released by her family after
women of the groom’s family meet a list
of demands. |
Introduction
There is a growing concern about the state of sexual
and reproductive health of the young people in Africa.
The concern is over the generally poor condition
of the sexual and reproductive health of youth on
the continent and the HIV epidemic as indicated
in the millennium Development Goals [1]. Other areas
of concern include the generational conflicts arising
from the attempts by older people to control the
sexuality of the younger generations; especially
girls [2].
It is not uncommon to hear in the family, the community
or even from policy makers comments such as: 'young
persons today, especially adolescents, engage in
sexual activities (understood as sexual intercourse)
at a very young age'. On moral and programmatic
levels, young persons are urged to abstain from
sexual intercourse and to emulate the older generations;
who presumably in their teens exercised more self-control.
This preliminary research aims to update our knowledge
of changes in adolescent sexual behaviours in Africa.
The main question of this enquiry is: Are there
discernible changes in the last few years with respect
to the sexual behaviour of youth? Are the current
claims, that youth are engaging in sexual activity
early, valid? Are there any gender and time differences
associated with these perceived changes? The answers
to these questions are important to inform sexuality
and reproductive health programming.
Methods
Data provided by the Demographic and Health Survey1
series serves as the basis for this study. The surveys
conducted in the early 1990s and 2000s will be the
reference. A few countries with available data have
been selected across the continent for this study.
The country surveys were conducted using the same
methodology, thus to a large extent, the data collected
are comparable.
To gauge the magnitude of change in recent years
we compare data collected in the early 1990s with
those from the 2000-2004 series. To assess changes
that have occurred in the long term, statistics
on sexual debut and age at first marriage for two
generations have been compared: that is for youth
at the time of the survey (i.e. individuals aged
20-24years) and adults aged 45-49 years. The paper
begins with a brief discussion of the legal age
at marriage where this information is available
and then compares age at sexual debut in the early
1990s and early 2000s.
Youth and First Marriage
Marriage remains a highly valued social institution
on the continent. Until recently, nearly every woman
on the continent would have been involved in some
form of marital relationship by the time they reach
their 50th birthday.
In most societies sexuality has been confined to
marriage life. While legislators in many countries
have prescribed the legal age at marriage (that
is the age at which an individual is considered
to be legally marriageable; see Table
1), it is astonishing to note the silence on
the legal age at which a person should be considered
legally mature or ready for sexual intercourse.
In Nigeria until the adoption of the Child Rights
Act in 2003, there was no stipulated minimum age
at marriage [3]
In spite of the prescribed legal age at marriage,
many citizens marry at a younger age. Early marriages
and in many cases child marriages remain major issues
in most African countries. However, there have been
some positive developments in the last decade. Age
at marriage is increasing in most of the African
countries with the exception of Namibia.
Sexual Debut in the 1990s and 2000s
Compared to ten years ago, the general trend is
that age at first sexual intercourse is increasing.
Generally, for most of the African countries, the
median age has increased with the exception of Namibia
where it has decreased. A large number of adolescents
have their first sexual intercourse by age 18. In
other words, compared to ten years ago, there has
been a drop in the proportion of youth who have
had sexual intercourse before they celebrate their
eighteenth birthday. That is, youth aged 20-24 years
in 2003 were less likely to have had sexual intercourse
by the age of 18 compared to those interviewed in
the early 1990s.
The delay in sexual debut does not occur uniformly
across the continent. When are youths likely
to abstain from first sexual intercourse; before
15 years and/or before 18 years? Two groups
of countries emerge in response to this question.
In the first group comprising Nigeria, Uganda and
Madagascar the major delay in sexual debut in the
last decade is due to the numbers of youth abstaining
from sexual intercourse before age 15. In this group
of countries, there is no marked change or difference
in the sexual behaviours of 16-18 year-olds in the
1990s and 2000s.
In the second group of countries [Ghana, Kenya,
Namibia], the major changes are taking place in
the age group 15 to 18 years. In other words, if
a young person succeeds in abstaining from sex until
her 15th birthday, she is likely to continue to
abstain until she is 18 years old.
FIGURE 1: Long-Term Change - Comparing
the Age At Sexual Debut for 45-49 Year-Olds and
Youth Aged 20-24 Years
Sexual Debut Patterns Then and Now
Compared to their parents' generation how do
youths fare in terms of sexual debut and first marriage?
This analysis compares the proportions of contemporary
youth (20-24 years old) and adults (45-49 years)
who had their first sexual intercourse by age 15
and 18.
Youth behaviour with regard to first sexual intercourse
has changed in the last 25 years. This change is
highly gendered. Boys are increasingly having their
first sexual intercourse earlier, compared to the
adult generation examined in this research. In all
the selected countries, the proportions of male
youth having their first sexual intercourse by age
15 and 18 has substantially increased. More worrying
is the fact that the proportion of those who had
first sexual intercourse by age 15 has increased
by at least twenty percent across the countries.
It is worrying because the sexual partners of these
boys are likely to be of the same age or younger.
In Nigeria this proportion has doubled (5.1% among
20-24 year-olds as against 2.4 % among men aged
45-49). In Namibia and Madagascar the proportion
has tripled!
The contrary was recorded among surveyed females
- a higher proportion of female youth abstain from
sexual intercourse before age 18 compared to women
in the surveyed adult group. In Kenya, Nigeria and
Uganda, the proportion of girls who experienced
early sexual debut decreased. The maximum decrease
in the proportion is in Nigeria where the figure
has been halved (from 42.7% to 21%). It should be
however noted that in Nigeria, this change occurred
in the last decade (between 1993 and now) because
data from the DHS 1993 did not point to any major
change. Kenya is the second country where an increasing
proportion of girls are delaying their first sexual
intercourse.
In other countries (South Africa, Namibia and Madagascar)
proportionally fewer girls are presently abstaining
from sexual intercourse till their 18th birthday
compared with the results recorded for the adults
surveyed.
Conclusion
This preliminary analysis clearly shows substantial
changes in adolescents and youth's sexual behaviour
especially with regard to age at sexual debut. The
general perception that younger generations are
experiencing their first sexual intercourse earlier
than individuals in the older age group did, is
not altogether valid for a number of the countries
examined. Moreover, these preliminary findings indicate
that the general perception may be truer for men
but not necessarily for women. In-depth analyses
and more investigations are needed to understand
the reasons for the changes observed and for exceptions
such as Namibia. There is need to investigate further
why higher proportions of boys are engaging in sexual
intercourse at an early age. Certainly, at the programmatic
and policy levels, sexuality education for boys
should be a priority.
References
1. Brown A.D., S.J Jejeebhoy, I. Shah and K.M. (2001)
Sexual Relations among Young People in Developing
Countries: Evidence from WHO Case Studies. Geneva:
World Health Organization
2. Tiemoko R. (2003) Coffee, Children and Family
Relations: Understanding Reproductive Change in
Western Cote d'Ivoire. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing
Chukwuma I, E. Sottas (2004) Rights of the Child
in Nigeria: Report on the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child by Nigeria.
Geneva: OMCT
Footnotes
1 For more information on DHS visit http://www.measuredhs.com/aboutsurveys/
*Richmond Tiemoko (Ph.D) is director
of the Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre.
Download
PDF version [52Kb]
Back to main page
|
