South African conservatives are firing back at gender-equality advocates who say the cultural practice of keeping multiple spouses should be extended to women.
A proposal to legalize polyandry — in which a woman has multiple husbands — is on the table in South Africa’s parliament. Despite the fact that the government has already sanctioned the practice of keeping multiple wives, as well same-sex marriages, the idea that women would enjoy the same nuptial freedom as men would be “unheard of,” said one critic, according to a BBC report.
“This will destroy African culture. What about the children of those people? How will they know their identity?” asked South African entrepreneur Musa Mseleku, star of a reality TV show that chronicles his life with three wives.
“The woman cannot now take the role of the man. It’s unheard of,” Mseleku continued. “Will the woman now pay lobola” — a kind of reverse dowry, in which the groom gifts the bride for her hand in marriage — “for the man? Will the man be expected to take her surname?”
According to Collis Machoko, a pre-eminent researcher on the subject, the backlash to proposed legislation is “about control,” he told the BBC.
‘The woman cannot now take the role of the man. It’s unheard of.’
“African societies are not ready for true equality. We don’t know what to do with women we cannot control,” said Machoko, who explained that women do keep more than one husband but those marriages are usually kept secret for fear of persecution.
“Polyandry, because it is shunned by parts of society, has been forced underground. The secrecy is similar to the one found in Freemasons,” he said.
Polyandric marriages operate similarly to polygynous unions, with women instead of men leading the home and having full agency over who is invited into the union. While holding a majority power in the marriage, the polyandrist is also frequently entitled to a lobola by her chosen mates, or the promise that the husbands will put forth their earnings to support her and their shared home.
There are a few reasons why men have said they entered polyandric unions, the most popular of which is love, said Machoko, while others include fertility, low libido and sexual dysfunction.
Charlene May, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Women’s Legal Centre, told the BBC that the legislation is a critical step for the sovereignty of women in the country.
“It’s important to remember that this [proposal] sets to uphold human rights, and we cannot lose sight of that,” said May. “We cannot reject law reform because it challenges certain patriarchal views in our society.”