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The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa
In the context of a perceived globalisation of human rights, this thesis considers whether constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination apply to polygynous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa from a legislative perspective. In other words, I examine whether there is a correlation...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Private Law
2018
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| _version_ | 1867613380600135680 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Cotton, Sonya |
| author2 | Himonga, Chuma |
| author_browse | Cotton, Sonya Himonga, Chuma |
| author_facet | Himonga, Chuma Cotton, Sonya |
| author_sort | Cotton, Sonya |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In the context of a perceived globalisation of human rights, this thesis considers whether constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination apply to polygynous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa from a legislative perspective. In other words, I examine whether there is a correlation between constitutional protection of rights and legislation, sensitive to the human rights of women in polygynous customary marriages. It is shown that at a constitutional level, there is often a strong indication that human rights to equality and non-discrimination apply to customary laws, including customary institutions of marriage. This, however, often does not translate to a statutory level, resulting in marriage laws that largely side-line and ignore the possibility of polygyny in a customary marriage and the potential for human rights violations therein. I analyze the discursive mechanisms that facilitate the contradiction that arises when constitutional commitments to protect the rights of women in polygynous marriages are not met at a legislative level. I argue that practices of 'silence' and 'omission' are used to perpetuate the myth that monogamy is the default position of all marriages governed by statute. This effectively constructs polygynous marriages as an aberration to the norm, and further renders invisible the parties in polygynous customary marriages. In failing to provide statutory guidance for the complexities that may arise in polygynous marriages, I argue that women in polygynous marriages are discriminated against in comparison to women in monogamous relationships. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27853 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:14.054Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Department of Private Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Private Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27853 The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa Cotton, Sonya Himonga, Chuma Comparative Law in Africa Customary Marriages In the context of a perceived globalisation of human rights, this thesis considers whether constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination apply to polygynous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa from a legislative perspective. In other words, I examine whether there is a correlation between constitutional protection of rights and legislation, sensitive to the human rights of women in polygynous customary marriages. It is shown that at a constitutional level, there is often a strong indication that human rights to equality and non-discrimination apply to customary laws, including customary institutions of marriage. This, however, often does not translate to a statutory level, resulting in marriage laws that largely side-line and ignore the possibility of polygyny in a customary marriage and the potential for human rights violations therein. I analyze the discursive mechanisms that facilitate the contradiction that arises when constitutional commitments to protect the rights of women in polygynous marriages are not met at a legislative level. I argue that practices of 'silence' and 'omission' are used to perpetuate the myth that monogamy is the default position of all marriages governed by statute. This effectively constructs polygynous marriages as an aberration to the norm, and further renders invisible the parties in polygynous customary marriages. In failing to provide statutory guidance for the complexities that may arise in polygynous marriages, I argue that women in polygynous marriages are discriminated against in comparison to women in monogamous relationships. 2018-04-24T14:01:30Z 2018-04-24T14:01:30Z 2018 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27853 eng application/pdf Department of Private Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Comparative Law in Africa Customary Marriages Cotton, Sonya The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| title_full | The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| title_fullStr | The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| title_short | The constitutional and statutory position of the 'other' wife: a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in Commonwealth Africa |
| title_sort | constitutional and statutory position of the other wife a comparative study of constitutional rights and polygamous customary marriages in commonwealth africa |
| topic | Comparative Law in Africa Customary Marriages |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27853 |
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