This fills an important gap in the general understanding of the complex interrelationship between gender, sexuality and the phenomenon of mothering in African societies. Academic essays present the social construction of marriage, mothering, and widowhood and discuss the various ways in which marriages were negotiated, the impact of increasing teenage pregnancies and non-formal educational techniques on unwed teenage mothers, the effects of gendered violence on women, as well as the myriad ways in which violence manifests itself in the lives of women.
