CHAPTER 5: RESULTS
5.2 PARTICIPANTS DEMOGRAPHICS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC
99
100 Table 4: Participants demographic and socio-economic characteristics
Pseudony m
Age Age of marriage
Employment Status
Education level
Religion Participants Parity
Ana 46 16 Small business 4a catholic 8
Antonia 48 17 Unemployed 6a none 4
Francisca 37 16 Small business 4a Zione 5
Claudia 25 17 Small business 4a Zione 3
Joana 29 16 Unemployed 2a Zione 3
Fatima 25 17 School admin and
HIV activist
10a Zione 2
Lucia 26 16 Unemployed 7a Zione 3
Maria 18 17 Unemployed 8a Zione 1
Tomasia 38 16 Small business
and farm
3a Zione 6
Paula 22 15 Small farmer 7a zione 3
Developed by the study Research Assistant
From participants’ demographic and socio-economic description presented above, it was reported that in relation to marital status, all participants were married before reaching 18 years and the majority of participants reported that their husbands were older at the time of marriage. These women shared experiences of the exercise of their SRHR as well as individual challenges as a result of their marriage. This section will present a brief individual profile for each of the women interviewed. The order in which the participant’s individual profile is organised is to help the reader visualise the participant’s individual personas in relation to their age group during interviews. Thus, description of participants’ profiles will start with the elder participants and will end with the young participants.
Antonia
Antonia was born in Namaacha District, and she was 48 years old at the time of interview. Due to financial constraints, she only completed 6th grade and never went back to school. Antonia indicated that she got married and started having children when she was 17 years old. She shared that her husband was older than her and they met when she was in school.
Antonia also added that she got pregnant during her first sexual experience, and the pregnancy
101 terrified her so much. Currently, she has three children, and one daughter passed on. During the interview, Antonia was unemployed, and to survive, she depended on her husband salary as a miner in South Africa and payment from odd jobs that her two sons did around Namaacha District. Antonia had no religious affiliation.
Ana
Ana was born in Namaacha District, located in Maputo Province in the south of Mozambique, and she was 46 years old at the time of the interview. She only completed the 4th grade and never went back to school, due to financial constraints. She started having sex when she was 15 years old and soon became pregnant with her first child with her husband. Ana was 17 years old when she got married and the husband was eight years older than her. Together with her husband they have now eight children and 13 granchildren. Ana and her family’s religious affiliation is Catholic. Ana shared that during the interview she was working as a
“mukherista”, a term that in the mozambican local language “Xichangana” means “cross border (small) business woman”, helping businesses transporting and delivering goods from Swaziland’s border to the Mozambican border located in Namaacha District. She also added that the money that her husband earns helps pay for her big family expenses, although it is not enough.
Tomasia
Tomasia was born in Moamba district, also located in Maputo Province, and she was 38 years old during the interview. Tomasia shared that she only completed 3rd grade, and due to marriage and motherhood responsibilities, she never went back to school. Tomasia indicated that she gave birth to her first child when she was 14 years old and currently she has six children. She also added that she was 16 years old when got married while being a mother of two. Tomasia’s religious affiliation is Zion. Tomasia mentioned that to provide for her family she has a small business, selling crops from her family farm, and her husband earns a salary working in the construction sector and doing other odd jobs.
Francisca
Francisca was born in Namaacha District, and she was 37 years old at the time of the interview. Francisca indicated that she only completed 4th grade. She explained that due to finacial limitations to pay for transport and other school expenses, she never went back to school. She also added that soon after her pregnancy when she was 16 years old, she moved out from her parents’ house and started living with her husband. Together, the couple have five children. Francisca and her family’s religious affiliation is also Zion. Similar to Ana, during
102 the interview, Francisca was working as a “mukherista” between the Swaziland and Mozambican border, located in Namaacha District.
Joana
Joana was born in Namaacha District and she was 29 years old at the time of the interview. She mentioned that she only completed 2nd grade, and due to financial constraints she never went back to school. She also added that got married when she was 16 years old and had her first child at 17 years old. Currently, Joana has three children and is unemployed. Joana also indicated that she and her family only depend on her husband’s salary from his job in South Africa. Joana and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.
Lucia
Lucia was born in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and she was 26 years old at the time of the interview. She was residing in Malelane village, located within Namaacha District.
She also stated that she only completed 7th. Lucia added that she never went back to school due to marriage and motherhood responsibilities, as reported by Tomasia. Lucia mentioned that she married when she was 16 years old after her first pregnancy, and her husband was 19 years old at the time. During the interview Lucia was unemployed, and the family survived on her husband’s salary as a carpenter. Lucia and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.
Claudia
Claudia was born in Zambezia Province, at the centre part of Mozambique, and she was 25 years old at the time of interview. She started her education in Zambezia, and due to financial constraints only completed 4th grade. Claudia could not read and write. She could not even write her own full name. Claudia shared that she started having sex when she was 12 years old and at 15 she became pregnant. She added that when she was 17 years old, she moved from her parents’ house to live at her husband’s house. Claudia mentioned that the couple moved four years ago to Namaacha District. Currently the couple have three children together.
At the time of interview Claudia was working selling small farm products, fruits and water at the Goba border that delineates Mozambique and Swaziland. Claudia also indicated that the family depends on her husband’s salary as a private security guard in Namaacha District.
Claudia and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.
Fatima
Similar to Lucia, Fatima was born in Maputo, and she was 25 years old at the time of the interview. She indicated that she completed the 10th grade of basic education and hoped to further her studies in the near future. Fatima added that she works as a secretary at a primary school located in Maulane in Namaacha District and she volunteers as an HIV and AIDS
103 activist in a local organisation working in the area of HIV prevention and care. Fatima mentioned that she got married when she was 17 years old after the birth of her first child.
Currently, she and her husband have two children together, and she hopes to have at least one or two more. Claudia and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.
Paula
Paula was born in Namaacha District. She was 22 years old at the time of the interview, and her husband was 32 years old. She mentioned that she only completed the 7th grade and due to her marriage and motherhood responsibilities never went back to school. She got married when she was 15 years old and had her first child when she was 16 years old. Currently, Paula has three children, and she is a small farmer. From her farmer crop, Paula can feed her family and sell the remaining produce in local markets. Paula indicated that she and family also depend on her husband’s salary as a security guard in Boane district. Paula and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.
Maria
Maria was born in Malelane, a village located within Namaacha District limits and she was 18 years old at the time of interview. Currently, Maria was living with her 21 year old husband at his parents’ house. Maria indicated that she only completed 8th grade, and due to her marriage and motherhood responsibilities, never went back to school. Maria added that she plans to go back to school in the near future. Maria got married and had her first child when she was 17 years old. Currently, Maria only has one child and is unemployed. The family survives from her husband’s salary; he works at a farming company that produces bananas and other fruits in Namaacha District. Maria and her family’s religious affiliation is Zion.