Abstract
Marriage in many African societies is considered an important aspect of human life. With the various practices of marriage across Africa, there is, at least, one common purpose for traditional marriage in African societies which is marrying to procreate. Although traditional marriage is characterised as a union for procreation, procreation is often considered a woman’s responsibility. This, I identify as the primary reproductive coercion that exist within African traditional marriage since the very essence of womanhood is tied to reproduction. Secondary to this, I identify various forms of reproductive control that are carried out by the husband, family and the community which interfere with the sexual and reproductive autonomy of women. Essentially, women end up having children out of the fear of 1) not being considered full persons and 2) the abuse and mistreatment that childless women are subjected to. As a way of addressing this problematic relationship between marriage and procreation, I propose a re-evaluation and re-conceptualisation of African traditional marriage that rests on the ideals and principles of ubuntu and appeal to African feminism.