Reproducing in an African City Today

Book excerpt: Sub-Saharan Africa is considered the last region in the world where women still give birth to presumably too many children. However, within large cities such as Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, the average number of children per woman varies greatly. What is extraordinary, as this book shows, is that childbearing is a social action. Parenting allows one to consider different action alternatives, or rather, opportunities to act. These actions are not the same for everyone in different contexts. The book highlights that macro level socio- demographic changes, namely intraurban reproductive disparities are brought up by micro level (individual) actions.