Growing Up Sexually

 

 

BORANA (Kenya)

 

Index Africa Kenya Borana

 

Also Featured : Pokomo, Amwimbe, Kore, Kuria, Masai, N’Jemp, Ariaal Rendille, Kamba, Tiriki, Chuka, Maragoli, Kikuyu, Kipsigis, Gusii, Luo, Meru, Samburu, Tuken, Nandi; ®Iteso


 

“Based on information obtained from the focus group discussions and from opinion leaders, girls must learn how to become good wives and good mothers by the time they are considered ready for marriage, usually as soon as they attain menarche. Chronologically this age is below eighteen years. Data on enrollment rates indicate that in upper primary school, girls’ ages range between 12-16 years and it is from this age group that brides are chosen. In this age group prospective brides are taught role expectations, values, and wifely skills, according to Borana tradition. […] After attaining menarche, the possibility of early pregnancy becomes a concern to the parents. Early pregnancy leads to loss of economic gains because it lowers the bargaining power of the parents during brideprice negotiations. […] If a girl is pregnant before marriage, the brideprice her father receives drops drastically, the Borana say, so girls are given away for marriage before they complete primary schooling so as to avoid any economic loss” (Nyamongo, 2000)[1].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Sept 2004

 



[1]Nyamongo, I. K. (2000) Factors Influencing Education And Age At First Marriage In An Arid Region: The Case Of The Borana Of Marsabit District, Kenya, African Study Monographs 21,2:55-65

[http://jambo.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/21-2/55-65.pdf]