“Had It Not Been For My Mother, What Would I Have Done†? Young Parents’ Engagement With Older Female Relatives in Maternal and Infant Care in Ghana: A Qualitative Study

This article investigates young parents’ experiences with the involvement of older female relatives in the care of pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants in urban and rural Ghana. The data are derived from semistructured interviews, focus group discussions, and observations with fathers, mothers and older women. The results indicate that in both rural and urban areas of Ghana, older women provide social and practical support to their pregnant relatives and their relatives with newborns. However, among urban participants, there are instances of friction between parents and older women when parents permit or restrict the aspects of care in which older women should engage. These findings underscore the importance of family and kin, especially older women in maternal and infant care, as part of the communally oriented motherhood and sex complementary roles that are common in precolonial Africa. Although nuclear family structures have become prominent in many Ghanaian settings, the role of kin and family in reproductive care continues. The article concludes that maternal and infant care initiatives could be strategically aligned with locally inspired social relations and provisions for care.