Africa report
Chad: barren women, the witch hunt
Audio 02:14
The Chadian Women's Rights League fights for women's rights and advocates for more awareness.
© Aurélie Bazzara-Kibangula/RFI
By: Aurélie Bazzara Follow
3 mins
In Chad, married women who do not have children are strongly stigmatized in society.
Under pressure from family, neighborhood and even the Church.
A pressure so strong that it is difficult for these women to talk about it to their relatives, to their doctor, and worse, to testify for fear of being recognized and judged.
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From our correspondent in N'Djamena in Chad
Curled up on a bench in the courtyard of her house, Victoria, an assumed name that she chose for herself, suffers.
Married for more than nine years, she has no children.
"
When you get married a month later, everyone looks at you and says, 'What are you waiting for?'
Always questions, questions, questions,
” she laments.
Every day, she experiences pressures that have gradually isolated her.
Fearing the gaze of others, she no longer goes to church and no longer goes out in the neighborhood.
“
One of our neighbours, who has one of her sick children, told me, that another neighbor told her, that since I don't have children, it means that I may be a witch. , that I made the child sick
,” she says.
Even at his place of work, the question of children is reminded of him daily.
She tells us:
“I have colleagues who tell me, you and your husband, you are two married men, in the same house.
Because when it's a man and a woman, we assume that there will be children.
But there, we see nothing.
I admit that I cried a lot the first two years, but now I have created a shell for myself”
After several unsuccessful medical examinations, Victoria says she feels lucky to be supported by her husband.
Because other women are abandoned when the child is long overdue.
This is the case of Zara.
For fear of being recognized, she refuses to testify on the microphone, but explains that her husband forced her to return to live with her parents after a miscarriage which prevents her from conceiving a child.
►
To listen also: DRC: taboo infertility supported in Kinshasa
In N'Djamena, it is difficult for couples to break the taboo of conceiving a child, so strong is the stigma.
“It is true that we have this desire to say that yes, I am a woman, that I have my right, I have my freedom to be pregnant or not to be.
This desire to say it, to shout it out loud is very present, even if we don't hear it enough.
I hope that over time, we can fight this fight, fight.
Awareness is the key to everything,” says Raissa Madibé, a member of the Chadian League for Women’s Rights.
Awareness that must be made in the streets of the capital, according to the activist, because even in the medical environment, it is difficult to break the taboo of the desire for children.
Sophie, a nurse in a gynecology practice, testifies to this.
“
There are women who come to consult for menstrual cycle disorders, others who consult for secondary amenorrhea.
It's rare for women to consult by talking openly about their desire for a child, yet there are a lot of them
,” explains Sophie.
The nurse explains that women often come for consultation as a last resort, after having tried traditional medicines without success.
In Chad, there are no figures on infertility rates for women and men.
►
Also to listen:
"Yaay.2.0", the TV series that tackles the taboo of infertility
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Africa
Chad
Women
Womens rights
Health and medicine