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Impact of Social Changes on the Family in Kenya
The Shift from Polygyny to Monogamy
The practice of polygyny has persisted as a mark of African family patterns
...

Multiple wives, and by extension, many children, are valued because they continue to provide
essential labour services in rural agricultural production
...

Comparative studies from Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania show that
monogamous households have taken a greater hold on society
...
In addition, migrations caused
by increased poverty, civil wars, increasing globalization, economic interdependence, ethnic and
religious conflicts separate individuals from their extended families and expose them to new
courtship patterns that emphasize individual choice
...
The advocacy of western religions for
monogamous marriages has particularly had a profound influence on the shift
...
This has
a number of positive effects on children
...
They also have better chances of healthy growth
and development since smaller families are more likely to access adequate basic needs, medical
care and social services
...
Unfortunately, such families
have limited socializing agents, caregivers and sources of both physical and psycho-social
protection and support
...
These families also
adopt a more litigious attitude in solving problems and therefore extended family members and
the community have little or no role in mediating in couple’s conflicts
...


Decline in Fertility Rates/ Reduction in Family Size
In most of traditional sub-Saharan African societies several factors contributed to sustaining
relatively high rates of fertility
...
Universal
marriage, early child bearing as well as child bearing within much of a woman’s reproductive life
span also contributed to the large family size
...
Further, most societies practised polygyny, which
sometimes promotes competition for child bearing among co-wives
...
It is still relatively low
in rural settings and higher in urban settings
...
In particular, the use of condoms has risen in
the wake of HIV/AIDS
...
The emphasis on the need to bear many
children especially as a means of support in old age has decreased owing to improved
education especially of women
...

 There are, however significant urban-rural variations in the value of children despite
aggregate fertility declines (Research conducted among the Kikuyu of Central Province,
Kenya)
...

 A gradual transformation of African marriage and family organizations from corporate
kinship and extended families toward nuclear households
...

While most African women still marry young, the proportion of women marrying before the
age of 20 has declined rapidly in most countries
...

Where nuclear households have solidified, there have equally been significant shifts from high to
low fertility rates in African families
...
Female education and consequent
autonomy (through gaining knowledge, greater ability to make decisions, self reliance and
control over resources), have particularly been instrumental towards this process
...

 Reduction in child mortality that assures that parents need not have many children in order
to maintain their desired family size
...

 The slow rates of economic growth and the high costs of living
...

 Socioeconomic changes, notably the decline in traditional agricultural systems of
production
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Although the change in timing of marriages can largely be attributed to the positive relationship
between urbanization and educational attainment, these changes are also noticeable among rural
women and women with no education
...

Ideally, reducing the family size is expected to yield desirable results through enabling families to
better meet the needs of children
...
In addition, parents in
larger families tend to be more authoritarian and more inclined to tread all children alike
...
Further, they have
been found to have lower-status jobs and lower earnings in adulthood irrespective of their parents’
social economic status and educational attainment (Featherman and Hauser, 1976)
...
On the contrary, children from smaller families,
particularly those from higher status families tend to have better self concept and to have higher
educational goals
...

Large families have a negative impact on parents too
...
They are also at greater risk of hypertension and other physical
ailments
...
As increasing numbers of women have
joined the labour force, single and female-headed households have become a noticeable pattern on
the African social landscape
...
However, studies from most African cities have also shown
that female-headed households are over-represented among the poor
...
Consequently, research has
established a link between single motherhood and illegitimacy, and:
 Poverty
 Inadequate childcare
...

 Downward spiral of family disintegration
...

 Reinforcement of the customary practices of multi-generation households where mutual
support between generations guarantees the well-being of a person born into African
families throughout their life cycle
...
Such problems include the increasing rates of juvenile violent
crime, depression, eating disorders, teen suicide, and substance abuse
...
Fathers make unique contributions to child rearing, including a
parenting style different from mothers and an emphasis on play, which facilitates normal emotional
development
...
Marriage and childrearing acts are extremely important
civilizing forces for men
...
As such it is necessary to undo the cultural shift
toward radical individualism to restore marriage and reinstate fathers in their children's lives
...

Fosterage constitutes part of the trend where the welfare of rural dwellers depends on their
solidarity ties with urban kin families
...
By conferring parental
responsibilities to their urban relatives, fosterage guaranteed the mobility of children from rural
families
...

 It mitigated inequalities in resource endowment among children, when poor and large
families transferred the guardianship of their children to smaller and wealthier families
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 Jeopardizing the strength of rural-urban relationships
...

Divorce or Dissolution of Marriage
Divorce, legally referred to as dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marital union,
canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony
between the parties
...
Studies have also established that the first 5 years of marriage are
relatively divorce-free, and that marriages that survive beyond 20 years hardly end up in divorce
...


Divorce differs from annulment which declares the marriage null and void
...
The legal process for divorce may also involve issues of spousal
support, child custody, child support, distribution of property and division of debt
...

As of 2011, only Malta, the Philippines and the Vatican City did not allow for divorce
...
In some Western jurisdictions, divorce does not require a
party to assert fault on the part of their partner leading to the breakdown of their marriage
...
' The requirement of proving a ground was revised (and
withdrawn) by the terms of 'no-fault' statutes, which became popular in the United Kingdom,
Australia, the United States, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand in the late 1960s and early
1970s
...

In jurisdictions adopting the 'no-fault' principle in divorce proceedings, some courts may still take
into account the behavior of the parties when dividing property, debts, evaluating custody and
support - facts which almost always have considerable weight in fault proceedings
...
Despite this, in some countries (or states of the
United States), the courts will seldom apply principles of fault, but might willingly hold a party
liable for a breach of a duty to his or her spouse
...
The Matrimonial Causes
Act only allows the dissolution of a marriage on four grounds, namely: Adultery, desertion (if the
petitioner has been deserted without cause for a period of at least three years), cruelty and where
one party is of incurably unsound mind
...

This involves testifying during the hearing of the petition for divorce
...
The petitioner must, therefore, be living in Kenya to institute and
finalise the divorce proceedings
...
Under customary and Muslim
law, however, women typically lack the ability to initiate the dissolution of a union
...
They may have periods of depression,
sadness and anger
...

In addition, communication problems that are in most cases a main contributing factor to divorce
dent further, since family members have to live in different places
...
This may further be accelerated when there are
continued conflicts between the parents and visitation is restricted
...
Some
may feel stressed out, angry, sad, frustrated, hurt or confused
...
At time, one may feel abandoned, afraid or worried
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(b) Divorced parents do not communicate as well with their children
...

(d) Divorced parents are less affectionate and are more inconsistent in discipline than parents
in intact families
...

(f) Girls tend to become anxious and withdrawn while boys become more aggressive and
disobedient
...

(h) The emotional stress of being away from their biological parent coupled with reduced
interaction and interest in many activities may lead such teenagers to get involved in
substance abuse and other harmful behaviours
...
As a result, they have early sexual relations, and shorter and unstable relationships
...

In addition, divorced families have to cope with:
(k) Diminished financial resources
...

(m) Assumption of new roles, with the custodial parent playing the roles of both the mother and
father and sometimes elder children playing the role of the absent parent
...
With the assumption of new
roles as has just been explained the relationships between members of the family change
...

He or she also relates to the present parent at a different level from the others
...

(o) Reorganization of routines and schedules
...
These in turn affect family routines like times for waking up,
having breakfast, eating supper and sleeping
...
This development depends on family
circumstances
...
Their relationship with the non custodial parent who
is granted the visitation may also change to that of more of friend than their parents
...

Although many times divorce impacts on children negatively, freeing a child from an environment
of conflict provides relief and enables older adolescents to develop an emotional detachment from
the family and to begin the normal development of individualization
...

These developments however require that three conditions are met
...
Second, the children should
have a strong sense of belonging, and finally, the there should be role models of both sexes to help
them determine their proper male or female roles
...
Better adjustment
can however be facilitated through discussing the impending divorce with the child at his or her
appropriate level
...


Effects of divorce on Community
With the rise in divorce rate, peoples’ belief on the sanctity of marriage has reduced and the pace
of emotional instability and immorality is also quickening
...
This is a major ingredient of divorce, and the
consequent bringing up of children in the absence of a father, which results in a lot of flaws in the
character of the children
...


As a result of the rise in immoral behaviours both from divorced parents and their maturing
adolescent children, many community members die from sexually transmitted infections, and
stress related problems
...
The number of children born out of wedlock and those from broken families has
also increased, rising the pressure of communities in caring for them
...


Policy Implications of Changes in Family Structures
Widespread availability of economic, education, and health opportunities will continue to have
remarkable influences on the changes in African family structures
...

In particular, there is need for policies that:
• Enhance the status and importance of women in the attainment of fertility reductions
...
Since the persistence of high fertility rates are correlated
with minimal involvement of women in reproductive decisions, family planning schemes that
empower women regarding the use of contraceptives need to be given more priority in policy
plans
...

• Target prenatal and postnatal health since in most of Africa, lower levels of infant mortality have
been correlated with lower fertility rates
...

• Enhance the economic opportunities of single-mothers since the prevalence of single-parent
families is becoming a major trend of African families
...

• Reduce the gaps between rural and urban areas
...
In this respect, more flexible tax policies that reward
fosterage would help in alleviating the costs of fosterage for urban dwellers
...
This may be done through expanding
the productivity of agriculture and promoting off-farm industrial activities that create jobs that give
both men and women more economic flexibility
...
N
...
Families in Kenya
...
corwin
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