Family Life

Gabonese families are large, with women having an average of five children. Matrilineal families exist in some ethnic groups; immediate family members include not only parents and siblings, but also the mother's parents and siblings. The government actively encourages births because it believes the population is simply too small. As a result of this policy, as well as a generally permissive cultural attitude toward sex, many young Gabonese women become pregnant without having found a husband.

Families stay together. When a couple marries, they relocate to the husband's village, which houses his extended family, which consists of brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children, nieces, and nephews. It is common for families to live with their parents and extended family. There is always room for one more, and everyone is welcome. Polygyny (taking more than one wife) is legal in Gabon, but couples entering state-sanctioned marriage contracts must register as either "polygamous" or "monogamous."