Online Reporter
NAIROBI. — For as long as Nelly Naisula Sironka can remember she has never wanted children — and with one irreversible decision the 28-year-old Kenyan has ensured she never will get pregnant.
Last October, she took the definitive step of undergoing a sterilisation procedure known as tubal ligation — permanently closing the door on motherhood.
“I feel liberated,” the organisational development expert tells the BBC, adding that it has ensured her future is now entirely her own.
The operation prevents pregnancy by blocking a woman’s fallopian tubes and is sometimes referred to as “getting your tubes tied”.
Between 2020 and 2023, roughly 16,000 women in the East African country underwent tubal ligation, according to Kenya’s health ministry.
It is unclear how many of these women didn’t already have children.
Yet Dr Nelly Bosire says the kinds of women coming forward seeking sterilisation in Kenya is changing.
“Traditionally, the most common candidates for tubal ligation were women who already had multiple children,” the Nairobi-based gynaecologist told the BBC.
“But now, we are seeing more women with fewer children opting for the procedure.”
Sterilisation is only recommended for women who are certain they do not want to have biological children in the future, as reversal is difficult.
“Doctors don’t typically encourage tubal ligation because the success rate of a reversal is very poor,” said Dr Bosire.
Despite coming from a large family, Ms Sironka said she never felt pressured to start her own — though societal norms in Kenya do place an expectation on women to have children.
She credits her father with her stance as he encouraged her to focus on education — and gave her a love of reading.
She had contemplated sterilisation for years, but decided to go ahead after saving up the money for the operation and finding herself in a stable job that allowed her to take time off.
It cost her 30,000 Kenyan shillings (US$230) at a private hospital.
When she told her family, it did not come as a surprise to them, as she had always been very vocal about her desire for a child-free life.
And as for dating and relationships?
“I’m still thinking about it,” she said with a shrug.
And Ms Sironka is not alone in choosing a child-free life, challenging traditional expectations of womanhood.
Across social media, there are those speaking openly about their choice not to have children and undergo sterilisation.
Among them is Muthoni Gitau, an interior designer and podcaster.
She shared her tubal ligation journey in a 30-minute YouTube video last March, explaining her decision to have the procedure.
“I think the first time I ever articulated… [that] I did not want to have children, I was about 10,” she told the BBC.
Her mother was heavily pregnant at the time, and a random question about her future popped into the conversation.
“I saw a possible partner. I saw travelling. I just never saw children,” she said. — BBC.
