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Will women ever be protected by either law or religion?
2006-12-16 08:52:53
By Ritah Wanza
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman. Women and men live in different worlds.
Worlds that differ in access to education, job opportunities, health, personal security and justice.
Increased awareness of these has led Tanzania to pass some laws to protect the rights of women.
Some of these laws were passed in the basis of religion and instead of protecting women; these laws have ensured that women have no voice, no rights and very little chance to improve their situation.
Tanzanian women might be living in a new era of ’nguvu mpya, kasi mpya, ari mpya’ but for some women it is not so. Where is the ’ari mpya’ when the justice system can’t even offer them protection?
A few months ago salma, a Muslim woman found out that her husband had been married to another woman for the past one year.
She had no idea of the existence of the second wife but her husband was legally married to the second woman and did not even intend to tell her about his second marriage.
Devastated, depressed and experiencing an emotional trauma salma decided to seek protection from the law.
In Islam it is lawful to marry as many as four wives but their law clearly states that, ’you can marry more than one wife, if you can do justice to both, treat them equally….’
Under Islamic law Salma’s husband had not committed any wrong doing by marrying a second wife, but shouldn’t the consent of the first wife be a requirement?
Salma is 40 and has four children, aged 13 to 21. The woman her husband has married as the second wife is 22. Just a year older than Salma’s son.
For the past few months Salma has been unable to make ends meet due to lack of finance, her husband has been insisting that his businesses are not doing well and that they have to survive on the little he can afford to give them
While Salma struggles to run her husband’s house and keep his children fed, the second wife lives a life of untold luxury and comfort.
While Salma has to explain to her children that they have to survive on the little they have, her husband is giving the second wife thrice the amount he gives to Salma to run his house and take care of his children.
In a bid to seek justice, Salma approached a lawyer and explained her situation. In the legal world money comes first.
The lawyer’s first question to her was, ’how much is your husband worth?’
The mention of her husbands name was enough to make the lawyer refuse to take up the case.
His argument was that his money and influence in the city would ensure that he won the case and that Salma lost hers.
To get a second opinion she called a couple of other lawyers, some agreed to take the case but wanted to know how much she was willing to spend on the case.
None guaranteed justice. Others advised her against making a case against her husband.
They genuinely expressed their fears over her husband’s influence and the emotional trauma he would cause her if he chose to make the case drag on and on.
Fearing that her life and that of her children could be ruined, Salma gave up the idea of taking her husband to court.
Salma’s case is proof of how unscrupulous the legal system in this country is. Wealthy people shape it according to their needs. The judicial system only looks out to the rich.
Since I cannot stand the unfairness in our judicial system and even get stomachs writing about it, this article won’t be about the corruption in the judicial system.
We all know how corrupt the system is. All I want to give you is a vivid picture of how unprotective Tanzanian law is to women.
Consider this; what would happen if Salma’s husband passed away with his second marriage still a secret? Would the second wife come forward to claim part of his property?
She would definitely do so and Islamic and Tanzanian law would ensure that she got her rightful share as a ’wife.’ And the relatives would too come for their share.
I know you are wondering what business I have in the issue of ’nyumba ndogos’. I am interested because it pains me to see women suffer at the hands of religion and the law.
I am interested because I am a woman and tomorrow or the next day I might be somebody’s wife and in Salmas shoes.
Can’t the law make it illegal for a man to get a second wife without the consent of the first wife?
For how long are Muslim women going to suffer at their matrimonial homes because the law gives their husbands all the leeway to marry 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wives?
It is true that the majority of Muslim men marry second wives and forget about the 1st wife and the children. The children are neglected in favour of young girls.
Does our system have the interests of these children at heart?
Isn’t it unfair to the children and women involved? Shouldn’t they review these laws for the interests of the children involved?
Imagine how traumatic it would be for a woman to discover her husband’s second wife after his death? First she would have to deal with the betrayal knowing that she would never get answers from him.
Secondly, she would have to deal with the mundane law matters because of the complications that the second woman would bring.
It is unfortunate that this is common among here in Tanzania. Men take second wives and never reveal it to their wives. The second wives are kept as mistresses and are visited for a few hours in a week.
The women readily agree to the agreement and in return they get what the 1st wife never gets-financial security.
Such women are free to do what they wish and they don’t experience the hassles of a normal wife.
When the man visits he is in good moods, when she asks for money it’s always provided, and she never gets to experience his mood swings or anger.
All this happens at the expense of the 1st wife and her children. She is neglected while the mistress is lavished with expensive gifts. A
t the end of it the wife and the children suffer, and the irony of it all is that the woman can’t knock on the doors of religion or the law for protection.
The law that the president has repeatedly insisted protects all is not there to protect such women.
Someone has an obligation to fight for women rights and that someone is we. We are the only people who can champion for our rights. Men can’t do it for us.
They are the oppressors. We are the people who can influence decision makers into making law reforms that would look into the interests of the parties involved in polygamous unions.
To influence decision-making and the fight for our rights, we need to choose women leaders from the grass root levels.
It’s the only way we can influence law reforms and ensure that the law gives us protection.
In order to protect women the law should be very strict with regards to men who wish to marry second wives. It should only be legal with the consent of the 1st wife and 2 or more witnesses.
With the Aids pandemic a reality in Africa I believe it should also be mandatory to have all the parties involved in polygamous unions screened regularly.
Each year the number of children orphaned by Aids goes up.
If it was mandatory for parents in polygamous unions to go for screening chances of infection would definitely drop and our children would have a better future.
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