Dissertation Research: The Effects of Infertility on Status and Access to Resources Among WaMakonde Women of Tanzania

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This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of California-Davis, studying the effects of infertility on the status of women in a Tanzanian society of Africa. The proposal will test the hypothesis that infertile women will undergo marital stress because of divorce, lack of resources, and general lack of prestige, subject to the women's' position in local kin networks. In addition the proposal will look at the role of children's labor in their mother's general status position. Methods include a survey sample of a complete village, more in-depth interviews of a stratified subsample of women of the village, and a time allocation study. This research is important because Africa has a very high population growth rate and is known as containing societies in which the group welfare is promoted above that of individuals. This sort of fine-grained research will tease apart the causes of high and low prestige among women as they relate to the number of children they have. The advance in our knowledge will be useful to population planners who must design policies to limit reproduction which are acceptable to the local population. In addition it adds to our expertise about this important region of the world.