Men's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Sierra Leone: Reexamining definitions of “male partner involvement”

In recent decades, global health researchers and policy makers have advocated for men's increased involvement in pregnancy and childbirth with the goal of improving maternal health outcomes. By “involvement,” these actors generally refer to narrow—largely Western—definitions of participation: accompanying women to antenatal and postpartum care visits, engaging in childbirth education, or being present during delivery. However, such approaches often fail to account for the culturally valid and gendered ways in which men already are involved in supporting women's reproductive health. This study is based on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and life histories conducted among 106 fathers in eastern Sierra Leone over the course of 2013–2016. Findings demonstrate that in Sierra Leone, where pregnancy and childbirth are considered to belong to the domain of women, men's primary role is to supply the material resources for a safe and healthy birth: a nutritious diet, transportation to healthcare facilities, medicines and supplies in the case of emergency, and the items to wash and dress the baby. While evidence suggests that gender norms are shifting to include other forms of intimate and emotional involvement, it is important to recognize existing forms of material support as valuable and essential forms of care. By restricting male involvement to biomedical notions of care, global health programs and policies risk discounting other types of socially meaningful support. Rather than disparaging young, African men for falling short of what Western organizations and researchers perceive to be “correct” behaviors, this paper attempts to highlight men's own understandings of involvement, so as to provide a more complete picture of the gendered nature of reproductive health in this context.