A Part of the Shared: a Comparative Analysis of Plural Marriages Under Customary Law and Women's Rights in Nigeria and South Africa

The golden fabric that binds the continuity of human existence is the family, which often manifests through marriage. Culturally, the definition of family is not limited to the nuclear family but also encompasses the extended family. Plural marriage generally connotes marriage to more than one partner at a given time, a prevalent practice in indigenous Nigeria and South Africa. This article explores the concept of marriage and the various marriage practices in both African nations, where men have the advantage of having more than one wife culturally, while the woman shares the man with other women. Further, it explores similarities between the concept of plural marriage in both countries that finds evidence in their common British colonial heritage, multiplicity of ethnicity, and acceptable norms that have affected the human rights of women within culturally defined roles that lean towards violation of acceptable rights of women under international law. Through doctrinal analyses of the types of plural marriage, we investigate customarily acceptable roles of women within plural marriage to see how these practices violate the rights of women. Using decided cases and national and international instruments, we analyse acceptable norms of plural marriage and conclude that there is a need for changes to protect women's rights in plural marriages through education, enlightenment, and instrumentality of law, especially in Nigeria.