- Published: November 14, 2022
- Updated: November 14, 2022
- University / College: The University of Adelaide
- Language: English
- Downloads: 4
Although polygamy does benefit to some families, however, itcan violate women’s rights. There are three bad effects that polygamy can harmwomen’s rights. First, polygamy can cause women to lose their identities asindividuals. This is because gender inequality occurs which is multiple wivesand a single husband at the head. Therefore, women can’t often make familydecisions.
For example, womenwill pretend to agree when they don’t really agree the husband’s decisions, butif women keep agreeing with their husband, they will no longer know what theyfeel. As to make their husband happy, some wives may try to change theirhabits by preparing delicious food and cleaning the house so that they can getthe husband’s attention. But, the husband may not appreciate the efforts of thewives. Thus, the wives can slowly lose passion and even forget to have lives ofthemselves. Besides, the second point is women tend to have serioushealth problems.
The first wives or older wives often feel the pains anddepressions as the husbands always love new wife. According to Ding Jo-Ann, updated in the website entitled “ The Impact of Polygamy”, claimed that 45. 6% ofthe first wives were dissatisfied with their polygamous marriages, comparedwith 39. 3% who were satisfied. Also, the conflict and jealousy between co-wivesin the polygamousfamily can cause them to be less satisfied in their lives which can lead tophysical injuries and health problems.
For example, health problems such as suppressedimmune function, insomnia, and stress-related hormones are often found in polygamous women. Onthe other hand, lack of financial support is another effect of polygamousmarriages violate women’s rights. This is because the husband cannot afford toprovide enough money to the family as he has many wives. Hamzah and Othman, updated in the website entitled “ Stress, quarrels and neglect: the ‘ normal’polygamous family” in 2010, claimed that the wives discovered that the husbandonly provided one-third of the family’s basic needs such as rice, sugar andschool fees.
So, women have forced to find extra jobs to ensure the financialstability after the husband has an extra wife. Is it fair for women to workovertime in order to feed the families? No, it is truly unfair to women. As a result, thisclearly shows that polygamy affects women rights in lose identities, mental health problems and lack of financial support. Inconclusion, polygamy can bring bad impacts especially the rights of women. Therefore, this issue should be handled with further research to give moresolutions to overcome polygamous families problem.