[Azov Films - Puberty - Sexual Education For Boysl
Tilo Chopin
Among the two forms of polygamy,[2]polygany[3] isby far the mostwidespread.[4]Several different schemes havebeen proposed it explain its incidence. Some people suspect that adesire fornumerous sex partners is built into basic human biology, a factor thatwouldexplain the almost its universal occurrence, but not the exceptions orvariations. Other theories based on population and ecological factorsexplain itas a response lengthy periods of sexual abstinence that women mustfollow afterchild birth in some cultures. This practice reduces population growth,butdrives husbands to acquire additional wives to meet unfulfilled sexualneeds.Demographic theory suggests that polygamy may occur because of asurplus ofwomen that results from a high incidence of male warfare.[5]
Polygamy is important to study in even incountries which disallow it. Itpresents complex issues of multiculturalism and the issue appearsfrequently incontexts of immigration. [9]Anexcellent analysison this aspect is worth quoting in full at this stage of this paper:
Law can urge greater equality, but banningharmful practices such aspolygamy, or even educating against them offers only one line ofdefense untilwomen can turn to themselves for security and sustenance. Whereeconomicdevelopment improves the situation of men, without bettering thesituation ofwomen, poorer treatment of women might become even worse in acommunity.[15] Thiswas noted by a researcher in thedevelopment of irrigation projects in Sudan, where the projects werestructuredwith male heads of households in charge of familylabor.[16]This state of affairs can correlatewith increased female circumcision where the increase of male economicpowercould lead to an increase in the practice of polygamy, a symbol of malestatus.[17]When adopted, polygamy has thepotential to encourage stricter circumcision practices as a result ofcompetition among wives to please their husband sexually.[18]
Some governments have attempted to redresscertain of these issues. Somecountries have sought to create uniform marriage and divorce laws;although indoing so they have codified certain discriminatory practices based oncustomaryand inheritance law. [27]But the vast majorityhas failed to adequately reform marriage, divorce, and property lawsthatcontinue to discriminate against women.[28]
For instance, few widows attempt to makeuse of the formal, legal, judicialsystem. [31]Widows rarely challenge thelegality of prevailing customary rules of inheritance or raise thequestion ofdiscrimination inherent in these rules. Activist organizations aretrying tochanging this. [32]Few widows have filedcomplaints with the police and fewer have attempted challenging theconstitutionality of these oppressive customary rules andpractices.[33]
So complex is the web of relationships andinterests that may exist withregard to a single estate that several calls have been made forlegislation todeal with the problem. [36]Any reform can onlybe a beginning that will need to be amended as its efficacy isevaluatedthroughout implementation.
Serious problems therefore arise when menmove from monogamous, statutorymarriages to polygamous, customary law marriages or vice versa, an actwhichclearly constitutes the offense of bigamy under existing laws in mostAfricanstates.[37]Unfortunately, the offense ofbigamy exists only on paper in most African states. In Nigeria, forinstance,with the exception of a single prosecution in the early 1960s, no onehas beenprosecuted for the offense. However, it is not an exaggeration tocharacterizethe attitudes of the Tanzanian and other African courts toward widowsattemptingto exercise rights as hostile.[38]Courtsappear to rank interests of women as wives last; their primaryconsideration isusually for the children of a deceased male.[39]
Being preoccupied with more pressingmatters of state, African nations mayhave found little time or resources or exploration to take on banningpolygamy,and most likely a political will on the part of governments is lackingasemphasizing gender is relatively recent from the World Bank and otherorganizations involved with development. [40]Add to that the fact that state officials may be part of the verypractices thelaws seek to abolish one can imagine the lack of politicalwill.[41]
Specific rights need to beconferred forwidows of polygamous and monogamousunions and harmful customary practices abolished. Cultures, customs,andtraditions fashioned by people are not static but are changed by peopleto adaptto conditions. Customs are made by people and it is people who canchange them.Many aspects of customary law are critically out of step with thecontemporaryworld.[52]
Reform needs to approach the complex butvery important question ofprioritization in the protection of widows of polygamous marriages.[61] Policyissues that need to be reconciledinclude whether monogamous marriages be given more protection; shouldall widowsbe entitled to equal protected in a polygamous marriage; if polygamy isprohibited what will happen to women who engage in such marriagesanyway, andfor marriages consumed before the law, what rules will apply. Anyreform mustcontemplate and address a number of possible marital arrangements.[62] How arethe interests of widows marriedunder different systems of law and at different times to one manprotected?
Professor Uche U. Ewelukwa discusses thecreation of a complex, dual regimewhich allows both marriage systems to operate thus reflecting thecomplexitiesof post-colonial social structures and arrangements in Africa.[70] Theargument for this is based on consentto a lawful polygamous marriage where there will be no unmetexpectations. Thedifferent women consent and the first wife is taken to have understoodthat herhusband could take more wives and the last wife contracted the marriageknowingthe man to have been married before.
Law does not implement itself.Until individuals, and in this case women,seek the remedies and solutions it provides, a law is virtuallyuseless. Ifwomen continue to accept passively the old and inequitable ways ofdistributingestates and do not seek the right to be considered as an heir then thechangesin the law have been for nought.[72]
In recent years, a number of African andIslamic countries that havetraditionally allowed polygamy have also begun to ban the practice. Forinstance, Turkey banned polygamycompletely;[92]Zaire banned polygamy; [93]Tunisia banned polygamy;[94] Burundiprohibited polygamy. [95]Mauritius banned polygamy in acomprehensive, informed, court decision addressing religious freedomand secularlegal concerns. [96]Bangladesh also outlawedpolygamy through a judicial opinion. [97]
Some countries still allow polygamy withand without legal restriction. Among the nations that continue to allowpolygamy without substantiverestriction are the Central AfricanRepublic,[98]Togo[99],Kenya, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Iran,Lesotho, Swaziland and Uganda.[100]
Long-term "concurrency" is far more common in Africa than inAsia and in theWest, where heterosexual people tend to practice "serial monogamy."MartinaMorris, a sociologist at the University of Washington, has shown thatlong-termconcurrency is more of a public health danger than serial monogamybecause itpermits HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases to spread to othersquickly,rather than confining them in a single relationship for months oryears.Moreover, a recently infected person is much more likely to transmitHIV than aperson who has been infected for a while. Thus, when a seriallymonogamousHIV-positive person eventually finds a new partner, his ability toinfect thatpartner has been reduced. If someone at the hub of a network ofconcurrentrelationships becomes infected, however, he or she is likely to infecthis orher other partners very rapidly. [106]
In 1986, Ugandan health officials had not heard of "long-termconcurrency"and Professor Morris had not constructed the computer models thattraced thetransmission of HIV. Nevertheless, the Ugandans knew that HIV wasspreadingrapidly through networks of sexual relationships, and it was killingpeople.They also knew it would be unrealistic to insist that all men abandontheirextra wives and mistresses, many of whom depend on the men for theopportunityto work on the land and for money and consumer goods for themselves andtheirchildren. Zero Grazing was a compromise. It recognized that sexualarrangementsin Africa are often different from the Western nuclear ideal and serialmonogamy. Zero Grazing was mainly addressed to men, and its realmessage was:
Try to stick to one partner, but if youhave to keep your long-termmistresses and concubines and extra wives, at least avoid short-termcasualencounters with bar girls and prostitutes. Also, you mustn't casuallyseduce andexploit young women, who may be susceptible to your charms and wealth.Duringthe Zero Grazing campaign, the proportion of Ugandan men and women withcasualpartners fell by 60 percent. On surveys and in focus groups conductedthroughoutthe country, most people said that they were protecting themselves fromHIV byreducing their partners or "sticking to one."[107]
This gender inequality puts women at a muchhigher risk of HIV infection thanmen. It continues despite the fact that States are bound by theprinciples ofthe UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, theConvention on theElimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, theConvention on theRights of the Child, and regional instruments.[114]
In Sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is mainlytransmitted through heterosexualintercourse. Variances in sexual behaviors across cultures, age groups,andgender usually influenced by culture and social, economic circumstancesimpacton HIV prevention interventions. As a result, poverty, underdevelopmentandilliteracy contribute to the spread of HIV in the developing world yetHIV/AIDSis also seen to aggravate the poverty situation, hindering developmenteffortsand eroding gains in various areas.
Intestate succession in Africa is one areain which women in polygamousmarriages stand at a clear disadvantage in relation to men and to womeninmonogamous marriages.[116]The recent lawreform in Ghana resulting in the Intestate Succession Law of 1985 hasgenerallyput women in a better position upon death of a spouse by creatinggreateruniformity for the disbursement of property and through guaranteeing aspecifiedportion of the estate to the spouse (gender-neutral). Nonetheless,women inpolygamous marriages, however, continue to suffer upon the death oftheirhusbands. [117]
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