Family Structure. All of the participants were living with their family and none were married. All but two of the households were comprised of two or more generations. The head of the household, defined as the eldest resident, was usually either one of the participant’s parents or grandmother. There were five individuals who lived with their married biological parents, while nine participants lived in a single parent household. Two of the young men did not live with their parents and lived with a younger cousin or brother. Of the remaining seven participants, grandmothers headed four households while one young woman lived with her great grandmother, one young man lived with both grandparents, and one young woman lived in a household headed by her aunt. Six of our participants mentioned that one of their parents had passed away. Our participants also talked about living with cousins and siblings. Four individuals also lived with their sisters’ children. The young women in our study discussed how much of their emotional support came from the individuals with whom they lived with at home. This was not discussed as much by our male participants. Much of the young women’s immediate support was in the form of their caretaker, usually their mother or grandmother. When they had a personal problem or concern, they talked about consulting a family member. Who they approached was depended on the concern. If their problems concerned sexual relationships, they usually sought out an older sibling. However, parents and grandparents were often consulted for financial support and advice. Four of our participants discussed how their fathers were absent from their childhoods. If their fathers were around, then they mainly provided financial support or business advice. The general lack of older male roles models within their social networks had significant implications for our male participants in particular. This 22 year old male explicitly discussed the personal consequences of being raised in a single parent household: Interviewer: So, what sort of things would you have liked to have been able to talk to him about, that you can’t talk to your mother or your grandmother about?
Family Structure. Women in female-headed households had more control over livestock because they made major decisions over livestock buying and selling. Married women too had instances where they had control over livestock. But only when the animals were young and the men were away herding. For example, when the man went to graze the small and large animals they would leave behind the kids, lambs and calves. The care of these animals was the role of the young boys in the household. But, the women were the ones taking care of the kids, lambs and calves because they would be blamed if the animals were to get lost. The consequence for losing an animal would be to search for it until it was found or not come back to the home at all. Islamic communities were either sedentarized, agro-pastoralist or satellite-mobile and they lived in the town area. Satellite-mobile is an arrangement where the women and the children lived in the town while the man was herding the animals in a different location. Communities that practiced traditional religion were nomadic, and they lived far away from the town area. Polygamous families were not uncommon. Co-wives and their children lived in separate houses, but they all shared a homestead. A co-wife's position in marriage determined their role. Among the traditionalists, all the wives slaughtered an animal during special ceremonies. For example, during Passover/ ‘Xxxxx’ in mid-April to mid-May and ‘Sondere’ in September. But, in February during ‘Harafa’ only the first wife slaughtered an animal. In sedentarized communities, co-wives had the option of living in separate homesteads. Thus, there was a greater variety of living arrangements among this group. In nomadic communities, families lived together in the same homestead. Thus, there were several homesteads in a satellite camp. In Islamic communities, it was common to find the husbands favoring the younger wives. Thus, a large part of the money earned by the man would go to the younger wife. Among traditionalists, the number of children a woman had determined the income distribution. Thus, the more children a woman had the larger her share of the household income or foods bought in the market or meat when the husband slaughtered an animal in the household. In some of the monogamous marriages, there seemed to be some form of equality between the sexes because both sexes had a say in how the money from the sale of livestock and livestock products got spent. Respondents indicated that women's invol...
