Polygyny has been defended by some men in terms of ‘tradition and culture’ but a cursory
observation suggests that it is currently being embraced even amongst women. It seems that
some women are willing to allow a husband to take a second wife and even in arranged
marriages some women seem content to enter into a polygynous union because they will be
answering the call of duty. This study seeks to explore why even some middle-class educated
women enter polygynous marriages. The study is different than the previous studies
conducted because it focused on women who were educated and had employment that made
them financially independent. Previous studies focused on poor rural women who had no
better option but to marry into polygynous marriages for a better life because in the past it
was only wealthy men who could afford to support more than one family and unfortunately
that is not the case in today’s society, now it is just any man who wants to ‘elevate his
manhood’ by having more than one wife but who he cannot support. The findings showed
women entered such unions for numerous reasons such as love, family and societal pressures
as well as desperation to have a higher social standing in the community than a single
woman. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/8241 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Mkhize, Zamambo Valentine. |
| Contributors | Zondi, Nompumelelo Bernadette. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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