Contextualizing Young Mothers’ Agency in Nairobi through Photovoice and Interviews

Despite the existing international policy frameworks that protect the rights and well-being of young mothers and pregnant girls, they continue to be stigmatized and face several barriers every day. However, they exercise agency. In this article, I discuss, from a critical feminist perspective, a photovoice exhibition by young mothers in Nairobi who were working to recover their agency, and I discuss their interview transcripts. Contextualizing it is key to acknowledging agency among these girls and young women, especially those in non-western contexts like sub-Saharan African countries. The findings from this study reveal that pregnant adolescents and young mothers live and express their agency in ways that are determined by their physical and social environments.