Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Households of Today and Tomorrow: Towards A Materialistic Conjugal Non-Place
Mr Mbepamo Famogni Sire Gotar
ABSTRACT:
In most urban and peri-urban households in Cameroon, cohabitation is the most common form of marriage. Despite the free collective marriages organised by town halls and the decentralisation of civil status centres, very few couples commit to making their relationship official through a civil act. In an ongoing study, we are seeking to understand the push and the pull factors couples in an African context where the union between two people is sacred. A sample of 150 informant couples was selected and interviewed separately. Through semi-directive interviews, the data collected showed that men and women get together out of a particular interest. For 75% of women, far from the social gaze and age, it was a question of living together as a couple in order to make personal savings thanks to the virtual absence of their responsibility in terms of expenses, as signing the marriage contract under the regular ‘joint property’ or ‘separate property’ regime would restrict their present and future freedom. For the 60% of men, life as a couple is a form of domination of the woman by taking charge of her, exploiting her time on the pretext that it is not legal. The marital home thus becomes a non-place or place of passage belonging to no-one.
keywords: cohabitation, factors, freedom, marriage, non-place