Polygyny: A Denigration of Gender Equality in Africa

Résumé

olygyny is the marriage of one male with more than one female. It is very trite that women are considered as the gender of fragility and emotions. These conceptions are deeper in many parts of Africa. The P female gender is viewed as one devoid of authority, dominance, and power. These views about women are from time immemorialIn some cultures and religions with ideological fundamentalism, women are not allowed to appear in public and to sit together publicly with men. In some places in Africa, men do not need the consent of their wives in order to marry new ones. In this regard, women become victims of capricious decisions of the man. Unfortunately, the idea of polyandry, the opposite of polygyny, is considered totally unworkable, and even unthinkable. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the concept of polygyny as a denigration of gender equality in Africa. The problem that warrants this research is that polygyny, in all its ramifications, tends to promote gender inequality owing to the fact that in many cultures, men are still allowed to have many wives. This fosters power imbalance in the relationships where women have limited power to make critical decisions even in matters that concern them. The analytical research method has been adopted. Finally, this paper submits that though the problem of polygyny is complex, approaches like societal legal reforms, women's empowerment and so on can go a long way in addressing the issue