Men, Marriage, And Ideal Family Size In Francophone Africa*

INTRODUCTION Although women and men are partners in the reproductive process, fertility and family planning research energies have predominately been focused on women over the last few decades (Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994). Given that in sub-Saharan Africa, men are the primary family decision makers (Caldwell and Caldwell, 1987; Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994), fertility research based solely on women may result in unexplainable childbearing behaviors compared to reported fertility desires. Fortunately, recent fertility and family planning research projects in sub-Saharan Africa are incorporating men in interview samples (Adamchak and Mbizvo, 1991; Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994; McGinn et al., 1989; Oni and McCarthy, 1991; Pillai, 1993). The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) have collected information on men from a number of African countries. Men are asked questions on their background characteristics, reported family planning use, and fertility preferences (and recently on AIDS knowledge and attitudes). There is an important methodological problem to overcome before male data can be used for sophisticated analyses. In sub-Saharan Africa, men often have multiple sexual partners (e.g., several wives and girlfriends) (Anarf, 1992; Orubuloye, 1993). In West Africa, for example, the highest levels of polygyny have been observed with an average of 40 percent of married women in polygynous unions (Westoff et al., 1994), or 25 percent of married men in polygynous unions (Speizer, 1994). Hence male fertility desire and family planning survey questions based on female questionnaires, although useful for matched comparisons of monogamous couples (assuming no girlfriends), are inappropriate for analyses of men with multiple sexual partners. These questions make the underlying assumption, appropriate in general for married women, that the individual being interviewed has only one partner (a husband or a wife). Therefore, assessments of men's fertility and family planning intentions may be incomplete because men's varying needs or desires by wife (in the case of polygyny) or by partner (in the case of gir?friends) are not being captured. To obtain better information on men, we need to reconsider male survey questions and methods to make them appropriate to sub-Saharan African men's unique family roles and multiple relationships. The analyses presented here demonstrate the usefulness of a male survey question recently included in the 1991-1993 male DHS surveys in Francophone Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, Rwanda, and Senegal). Men are asked if they intend to take another wife (or other wives) in the future. One can use this information to create a marriage trichotomy that accounts for the fact that some men are currently monogamous but in search of additional marriage partners.' The three groups of married men are ( 1 ) currently monogamous men who intend to remain monogamous in the future (truly monogamous men); (2) currently monogamous men who intend to become polygynous in the future (potentially polygynous men); and (3) currently polygynous men. Speizer (1995), using data from Cameroon, showed the existence of the marriage trichotomy and illustrated that men's marital intentions are associated with their desire for additional children and current or intended family planning use. This paper extends previous research on marriage and fertility of Francophone African men in two ways. First, I confirm the existence of the three marriage categories in other Francophone African countries where data are available. Second, I apply the marriage trichotomy as an independent variable in analyses of men's ideal family size reports. Ideal family size is used as a proxy for fertility desires because it should include children born in union as well as children born outside of unions, or children from previous unions (Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994).2 DATA AND METHODS These analyses include data from three Francophone African DHS countries (Niger, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. …