Men in Uganda who want to acquire that traditional status symbol, a second wife, might in future have to ask their existing wife’s permission before popping the question again.
Under proposed reforms to Uganda’s marriage laws, a man seeking a harem will require the consent of his first wife as well as the approval of his district council.
The proposed domestic relations bill has provoked a clash between traditionalist men — including some Muslim clerics who say it is contrary to Sharia law — and increasingly assertive Ugandan women.
President Yoweri Museveni’s government has brought in affirmative action programmes which have boosted the numbers of women at universities and in the country’s parliament, and the marriage reforms are seen as the latest attempt to woo female voters.
”Women are the strongest supporters of Museveni, because he is the first president to reach out to them, with all this affirmative action,” said Michael Wakabi, a journalist at the East African newspaper in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
But the reforms could alienate men in rural areas, where polygamy is widely practised by Christians and followers of traditional beliefs as well as Muslims.
If the bill becomes law, bigamists will risk a five-year prison sentence.
”Eighty percent of Ugandans live in rural areas, and polygamy is quite common, especially in northern and eastern parts of the country,” Mr Wakabi said.
”We have cases where a woman will encourage her sister to come and join her in marriage rather than have a stranger as the second wife, because otherwise the man will go out and get a stranger anyway, and then you get rivalry.”
Second wives are usually married in ceremonies which are traditional to the area, rather than within a major religion — something that leaves them with no inheritance rights when their husband dies.
The bill will place traditional marriages under the protection of the law and will give women a right of veto on property decisions made by their husbands.
The reforms, which are being piloted through parliament by the justice minister, Janat Mukwaya, a Muslim woman, will also ban the practice of ”widow inheritance”, under which a widow is expected to marry her deceased husband’s brother. The practice has been blamed for the spread of HIV.
Marital rape will also be outlawed by the bill, and women will be given the right to refuse sexual intercourse on ”reasonable grounds”, including poor health and recovery after birth or surgery.
The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council said the bill’s limitation on further marriages was contrary to Islam.
”A Muslim is free to marry more than one wife, and to limit him is not for human government, it is for Allah only,” it said.
Muslim tradition limits a man to a maximum of four wives, and requires him to be able to provide for all of them and treat them equally.
Uganda is primarily Christian, but 16% of the population are Muslim and a further 18% practise indigenous beliefs. – Guardian Unlimited Â