Polygamy

Polygamy, a tradition needed to be changed
Nno! Kwenu! The body of Egwugwu, I salute you. The reason why were are her in the ilo is for the discussion of a very gruesome tradition. I am here to address the current issue of shortage of women for men like me in the village for marriage. There is a particular tradition practiced in our village which has ruined many lives of men like me in the village and such men who don’t have a wife are considered to be efulefu, and there is no doubt about that that the tradition should be changed. The tradition that has caused all these misery in the lives of many men in the Igbo village is that of Polygamy which is why many people do not have their companions and others have more than one, decreasing the respect given to each of them. Polygamy is a very cruel tradition which should be banned and is being removed off from other parts of the world too. By banning this tradition, each man could have a wife to look after him and for the moral support of a person and also the respect given to each woman would be increased, also due to Polygamy many men who have been forced to marry more than one woman get stuck in economic crisis which eventually leads the family to an end. Also through this I personally would be benefitted as I would have a wife who would take care of me and help in every step of my life and would have increased respect in the society and also through my marriage I would get an economical advantage of having more land due to the presence of an extra member in my family from the society.
I believe that through abandoning this tradition of Polygamy, each man would be able to marry a woman and can lead a successful and prosperous life. A woman is very important to a man. A woman gives a man moral support and is the maintainer of the house, she maintains the house and children, cook food, wash dishes, feed the pets, maintain the yams, help the male in farming and saves the other crops from destroying and so on and so forth. There are so many things that a women does in a man’s house, and not having a woman leads to physiological stress and all the work to be done by one man himself. Many men don’t have a wife in our village due to this cruel tradition, and the outcome of it is stressful life for many people, so in my opinion having a wife is a necessity for everyone. Often Polygamy can lead to hardness in family as having many wives in one family can cause jealousy for love from the husband and stress between the co-wives. Men having more wives always inyanga about their richness and their power. Often in this hardness and other causes, economic crisis come up in families which lead them till death.
From my point of view, Polygamy gives rise to family burdens and often leads the family to misery. These happens especially in the case where the man is not able or does not cultivate and harvest enough food and is not capable of collecting enough resources and is not able to maintain his family due to having more than one wife and having many children due to having many wives. This act of inability of feeding the family results in starvation or end of the family which does not further get family support. Polygamy is beneficial to people who have strong background and are hardworking and rich, but for people, who are poor and married more than one wife due to social pressure or people who don’t have family support finally end up dying or committing suicide due to lack of resources. Polygamy has destroyed millions of houses and will continue to if this tradition isn’t stopped.
Family and cultural values are harmed from Polygamy, each position in the family have different status and through this tradition the women’s respect is lowered by valuing them lower than they ought to be. Marrying many women represent no value for women and symbolizes disrespect towards the women. Due to this, women are not treated properly and are not given enough concentration for their well-being and health. It seems to me that due to Polygamy women’s health, the potential psychological and reproductive health is altered. This tradition also decreases the respect given to women in these families. While some women might suffer socially, economically and health-wise as a result of polygamous life, other might benefit. The way in which a woman experiences polygamy will depend largely one number of social and cultural factors, such as the number of co-wives she has and her relationship with them, cultural perceptions of polygamy, and her role and responsibilities within her marriage and family. Jealousy and other stress are increased and many tensions are grown in the family, women’s respect is lost which is a disgrace to our society. This banning of Polygamy, benefits me any many ways as in having a wife.
Having a wife is a necessity to me and Polygamy causes lack of women for every man. By banning this tradition, on the basis of our clan’s sex ratio, each man will get his own spouse which is a huge moral support for a man. A woman is very important in every field of life, and is the most important person for our future generations. I, having a wife, can expand my generation with the presence of a wife; I can make my obi better with a wife and can get support from her. My wife can also help me with farm works and I can have an advantage of having a wife as an economical asset. By having a wife, I will have a social respect which I presently don’t having due to not having a wife. Having a wife is very important for me and my future. In my opinion, banning the tradition of Polygamy will prevent the end of many generation and families, and every man of our clan will have a wife as a companion, for increase in the social level, and in the economic level. If I have a wife, that yields me a huge economic benefit too.
It seems to me that, men in Polygamy are not only having more wives but are having economic benefits too. Our clan supports every person individually and gives each man a share of land as per the number of wives to increase agriculture to feed his family. So, large shares of land are being taken by men with many wives which is not being used to feed the family but instead to expand the farm, these men in Polygamy are getting undue advantages for being rich or having stronger family background. I believe that these undue advantages are very unfair to ordinary people with one or none wives and there should be equality in land. If I have a wife, then I will personally be given extra land through which I would be able to expand my farm and make more profit than usual. I sincerely believe that this tradition of Polygamy should be banned as there are economic advantages to men following this tradition. This tradition is a nuisance and has to be stopped.
As I have noted above, Polygamy is a tradition through which many men face disasters in their lives and are treated unfairly and have economic disadvantages. Having one wife to each man will equal the economic and social status and then it relies upon the man, whether he works hard or just wastes his time. Polygamy should be banned and everybody should have an equal start irrelevant of their family background or the money left by nna ayi for their children. As a result, not banning Polygamy will continue the end of many families and the bad treatment done by women. Polygamy should be stopped and the clan should support the weak instead of the strong. Men like me have been suffering the result of not having a wife, and a time has come to change this cruel and merciful tradition. When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Then why do some people want more wives and destroy their lives. Polygamy is a tradition for killing a women’s personal life. This tradition should be stopped as it has been, is, and will keep destroying lives of women and men.