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# _3._ **_Sodcoe-unrd_** _Barruirs to Family_ **_Planning in Zalre_**

While It is unwise to generalize to the many ethnic groups and cultures within Zaire, certain values are common to the majority and strongly influence attitudes toward fertility, birth spacing, limitation of family size, and use of contraceptive methods.

Fertility is highly valued in Zaire. Caldwell and Caldwell contend that traditional African religious vIh.%es have sustained high fertility in two ways. First, they have acted directly to equate fertility with virtue and spiritual approval and to associate reproductive failure or cessation with sin. Second, they have placed both positive and negative sanctions on filial piety and material homage to the older generation so that high fertility is rarely disadvantageous [71. Frank has similarly commented on the strongly entrenched pronatalist attitudes prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa 181.

Zairians have great respect for their ancestors, and many model their behavior according to the perceived wishes of those who went before them. Given the view that the individual is only one member of the larger and more important clan, many feel a moral responsibility to strengthen their clan by contributing to it numerically. To limit family size purposely, especially to a number lower than 4 or 5, Is seen by many as a selfish act of individuals unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the good of the larger society.

The total fertility rate in Zaire (average number of children born to women during their reproductive age) is 6.2 children [1]; this is similar to the number which women report to want and/or to consider ideal. In traditional society, there is great status attached to having a large family. The 1982-84 Prevalence Survey in four urban and two rural areas showed that among women who already have five children, over half would like more 13]. Even with large numbers migrating to a more urban and "modern" environment, the high fertility norms have remained largely intact. Young people rarely aspire to the 10-12 children their parents may have had, but few would voluntarily limit family size to 2-3 children. Underlying this attitude is the constant threat of infant mortality, even to well-to-do families, and the need to have "enough children" in the event that not all survive.

The large family norms are reinforced by a number of factors. First, in rural society children were a much needed source of labor for agricultural activities. While this is no longer the case in the urban areas where 40 percent of the Zairian population now lives [1], the values regarding large families have changed little. In fact, they are often reinforced by the older generation who exert considerable pressure for continuing the tradition of large families. Second, until recently women's participation in the labor force has been limited largely to work in the fields, which could be accomplished with the youngest child on her back, or to petty trading where little ones could play in the market place. Third, even as women have moved into professional and clerical positions, the presence of the extended family, including numerous female relatives available for child care, has allowed women to continue child bearing while maintaining a position in the work force. Fourth, the practice of "foster parenting," especially within the extended family, is also widespread, such that some of the economic burden associated with numerous children can be alleviated at least for short periods of time by sending the children to live with relatives.