Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307215 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17391
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Family planning is a critical issue in countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, where high fertility rates coexist with low contraceptive use alongside adverse perinatal outcomes. Using a combination of ethnographic, ecological, and folklore data, we investigate the role played in this context by postpartum sexual abstinence, an extensively documented practice that, in preindustrial societies, nds its biological justication as a means to safeguard child survival. First, we show that the duration of contemporary postpartum abstinence increases with the duration of ancestral postpartum sex taboos within a woman's ethnic group. Second, postpartum abstinence is de facto pronatalist, as it increases the number of children ever born to a woman. At the same time, it increases the number of children of a woman who have died; lengthens birth intervals though not suciently to meet recommended guidelines; and increases neonatal death and child stunting. Exploring the underlying mechanisms reveals that postpartum abstinence is associated with patriarchal cultural norms and that the motivation for its adoption is that it serves as a purication ritual. Overall, our ndings question the biological rationale for postpartum abstinence as a means to protect child health, while aligning with anthropological evidence documenting its adoption as a ritual.
Subjects: 
family planning
postpartum abstinence
postpartum sex taboos
contraception
fertility
birth spacing
child health
tuber suitability
folklore
female empowerment
rituals
sub-Saharan Africa
JEL: 
J13
I18
N37
O11
D15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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