Predicaments of Gender and Generation in the Contemporary Sahel

Abstract Policymakers tend to focus on demographic growth and the ‘security risks’ of the Sahel. Focusing on a more intimate scale sheds light on the choices that individuals and families make in light of the restrictions placed on their movements, on their access to production, and on their prospects for marriage and child rearing. Individual choice figures less than the preferences of the entourage. While demographers perceive the high population growth rates in the region as contributing to radicalization, the young Nigerien man is less likely to see his problems as a lack of access to birth control than a lack of access to marriage in the absence of a secure livelihood. Many of the best opportunities in the actually existing economy—in a setting in which borders are permeable, the seizure of wealth is a kind of demonstration of masculine adulthood, and the legitimacy and capacity of the state is extremely low—attract less-educated young men. Scarce opportunities for income earning and relative immobility position women so that their best bet is to secure a marriage to a man who can master the opportunities available. Looking at gender and generation prompts an awareness of subfertility, of the problem of how to marry and have children, and of how security and population policies can inadvertently increase the vulnerability of young people and women seeking to enter adulthood.