Cultural
Norm – Wife inheritance
When I
first heard about wife inheritance, I was flabbergasted to say the least.
Apparently this is a practice that still continues even in the 21st
century. When your husband dies, a family member most often the brother will
take the wife in as his. Like really? Where as a society did we fail?
I would
like to meet that elder who came up with this preposterous rule. Did he look at
his brother’s wife and think, “Damn she is beautiful, maybe when my brother
dies she can be mine”? Was he sitting under a mango tree sipping on some local
brew when he decided to pass this law? Women in our society have been looked
down upon since time immemorial.
In the
yesteryears, more women were stay at home mothers who depended on their husbands
for provision. When the husband died, the women had no option but to move in
with whomever the clan deemed fit for them and they would live happily ever
after….or so I think. This type of bigotry is one I am glad more women are
shunning away from.
As much as
this practice has received a lot of criticism, it still continues in many parts
of the world…which takes me back to that old man sitting under the mango tree
or perhaps it was an apple tree. Let us stick to the mango tree. Which lemons
had life handed this old man and his counsel? I am a wife and a mother, if
anything was to happen to my husband - touch wood -, I would like to have the
opportunity to decide what I want to happen to me or my children. I might want
to re-marry, or maybe decide marriage is not for me and I want to live my days
out as a single parent. The choice should be mine, period.
There
should be laws that prohibit wife inheritance and/or forced marriage. Women
living in these regions where this cultural practice is norm, should be
sensitized to what is morally acceptable and what their rights are. These women
should be told that it is ok to say no, it is ok to pack up your bags and your
children’s bags and leave. They should be told that they cannot be forced to
marry someone they do not want to just because their culture permits it. That
because their parents or their grandparents or great-grandparents conformed to
this rules, that does not mean they should do the same. In this era of disease,
promiscuity is not an option.
Women should
be equal to men, or at least have almost as many decision making opportunities
as men. Why is it a man can have up to four wives, but for a woman that is not
“morally acceptable”. Why can’t a woman inherit a husband once the wife dies?
This is because the society we live in is biased. Who am I to complain? Well my
husband has three brothers, so who will choose which brother will “inherit” me?
This is absurd to say the least.
To that old
man and your counsel, this might sound cliché, but we will not rest until all
women have the same privileges and opportunities as men. We say no to wife
inheritance.
Drops mic.
