NAN-H-88
Marriage
By Suleiman Shehu
Ibadan, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) Dr Amaka Emordi, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, says the preference for male children is one of the factors which promote women bigamy.
Emordi said this on Tuesday at a seminar organised by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan.
The theme of the lecture was: “ Women Bigamists in South-East Nigeria: The Social Contradictions of the Feminist Struggles. ’’
Emordi called for the enactment of a law to curtail the preference for male children in order to eradicate women bigamy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incidence of women bigamy involves a woman marrying another woman to produce a child.
NAN also reports that the practice, which is common in the South East Zone, does not involve lesbianism while the product of the union belongs to the woman who proposed marriage.
But according to the don, every child has a destiny and should be seen as a gift from God.
She said that while women bigamy often brings succour to women unable to bear their own children, the contradictions inherent in the practice outnumber the benefits.
“ Women bigamy does not only contradict the feminist struggle but also contradicts the Nigerian Marriage Act which only permits the celebration of male and female marriages and refutes all forms gay or lesbian marriages in Nigeria.
“Women bigamy is an obstruction of the godly order of things, especially marriage, which was meant to be a union between a man and a woman.
“ It becomes a contradiction when women, who in the pre-industry times preferred to have their own husbands, now prefer to marry their fellow women so as to have more sexual freedom,’’ Emordi said.
She said that the law must ensure that the problem of infertility “ should not be a lonely road for infertile women but a problem that should be handled by both husband and wife.’’
Emordi also said that there should be adequate protection by the law and provision for the administration of justice against dehumanising treatment of childless women, especially in rural areas. (NAN)
SYS/OJO
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(Edited by Mufutau Ojo)