Guardian

Dr. (Mrs) Franca Attoh spoke to AJIBOLA AMZAT on the practice of polygamy in Africa

HOW do you view polygamy?

Regardless of their level of education, the consciousness of the average African man, especially those raised in our cultural setting, has not changed. African man imbibes westernization in term of his academic qualification, his dressing, but he remains an African man in his consciousness. Hence, you will notice that the moment they are able to achieve some measure of success materially, there is always tendency to let go of the inhibition that the whiteman’s religion or education is imposing on them and you find them marrying many women. And if the white man’s religion becomes a challenge, they find a way around it by keeping many mistresses. So, invariably an African man is still an African man underneath. And this is a cultural issue.

The hurtful part is when a woman is led into believing that she is going into a monogamous relationship, then the man makes a lot of money later and he starts thinking of fulfilling his desire to marry more women. I think it has to do with our culture more than any other factor.

What do you think of polygamy as a promoter of gender inequality?

I do not think so. Of course some people may want to read into its power relations, power dynamics, by arguing that a man marries many women to show he is more superior. This is not so. The truth is that most African societies are deeply patriarchal, the nucleus of authority flows from the man. Man has always been superior in the  African context. We have never had a level of parity between  man and  woman. Where you find women distinguishing themselves, such women are admitted into the privileges enjoyed by titled men. But you would see that these are women who have passed their reproductive age, and are no longer ‘women’ so to speak. They are more or less like men. And they too would have attained a particular status in terms of achievement. So it has nothing to do with gender inequality.

Would I be right to say that you are personally comfortable with polygamy?

I am a Christian and Catholic, and the doctrine of my faith says it is “one man, one wife”. Of course, if my husband decides to take a second wife tomorrow, I may not be comfortable with that. But if at the beginning of the union, he told me that he was likely to get a second wife, of course that would enable me to make my decision whether to marry him or not. But certainly, I would have walked away because I am a catholic and Christian faith forbids polygamy.

The truth however is that the modern polygamy is not the same as the polygamy practised in the traditional African society because men of substance today who engage in polygamy do not bring their women into the same compound.   Most of the women in polygamous marriage today are professionals, and they mostly live in separate apartments so that in the end, they have little or nothing to do with their mates, except when they have a family get-together.  In that case, petty jealousy which characterizes polygamous marriage might not be a thing to worry about.