Polygamy

written Sunday, 8 April 2007


I had an interesting talk with my host mother last night about polygamy. I wanted to know how she feels about it, because she had told me that her father had two wives, but she herself is a single wife. And of course for me polygamy is a very foreign thing.

She told me that she thinks polygamy as a tradition is fine, and that whether or not it works in a family depends entirely on the people involved and how they treat each other. If the man is fair with both (or all, if there are more than two) his wives, and if the first wife is given respect as the senior wife, then, my host mom says, everyone can live happily. She said she would not mind being one of multiple wives under those conditions, and if her husband did take a second wife, then she would want to be close to the second wife as if they were sisters.

Polygamy is still definitely not for me, but it is interesting having someone I respect support it.