Child-Care Practices in Four African Societies: A Controlled Comparison

This paper will examine how child— care practices are influenced by the economic role of women. It will consider several cases where the economic role of women has been maximized by reducing the mother's responsibilities for child care. It is hypothesized that child care practices should be significantly diff e— rent where the mother's responsibilities are reduced than they are when the child's mother is the primary caretaker. If it is true that mothers are more nurturant, it is expected that where individuals other than mothers are the child care— takers, the early child—care practices will be 1) harsher, 2) earlier at onset, and 3) more abrupt than if the mother has primary responsibility for child care. When the mother's responsibilities are reduced, care of the child could be given over to men, children, or other women