Botswana

In Botswana, motherhood is a central, multilayered role within the sociocultural institutions of marriage and the family. In this context, marriage, family, childbearing, and child rearing are intertwined. Traditionally, marriage was almost compulsory, and so was childbearing. However, the Setswana (the traditional people of Botswana), which was mainly founded on marriage, has been transformed into many different family forms: These include single parents; cohabitant families; and blended, adoptive, and foster families, with the single mother family as the most common and a growing phenomenon in Botswana.

African women marry at a much earlier age than women elsewhere. For Botswana, the average age at first marriage up to the late 1990s was 26 years for women, compared to earlier decades when girls married as early as 20 years of age or younger. Therefore, early pregnancies and early motherhood have become subjects of research and intervention programs in Africa. The mean age at [Page 139]first birth in Botswana is recorded at 18, and the majority of women aged 15–49 who have ever been pregnant have become pregnant for the first time at age 15–19. A decline is also indicated in the proportion of women currently married, concurrent to an increase in cohabitation relationships. With Botswana currently among the hardest hit by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic, the problem of teenage motherhood is a great health concern. The transition in roles for young girls from child to mother without much preparation is daunting, and usually has serious psychological challenges. In spite of this, some of the proposed mechanisms for addressing it, such as sex education and use of contraceptives (which is only used by 32 percent of married women) are still facing sociocultural bottlenecks.