Literature Review on "Sharing a Husband: Polygamy"

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In almost all of these cultures, of course, females are the dominated sex, and men control many of their actions and decisions. This is definitely the case in many of the tribal cultures in Nigeria, such as those explored and encountered in Buchi Emecheta's novel the Joys of Motherhood. The title of this novel is largely ironic; the life of the novel's protagonist, Nnu Ego, is hardly joyous, and though she loves her children very much and ultimately is rewarded in some sense for this love, the fact that she ends up with so many children really ends up being a burden to her. The system of polygamy that exists in Nnu Ego's culture makes it very difficult for her to scrape together enough resources for she and her children to survive, and creates a variety of other social and psychological problems. This paper will explore these issues as they appear in the novel and in current research literature.

The Decline of Women in Islam

Many tribes in Nigeria practice some form of Islam as their primary religion, and though religion is not a major focus of the Joys of Motherhood it seems fairly clear that this is the religion that Nnu Ego and her husband Nnaife subscribe to. Certain incidents in the book refer to customs that exist in parts of the Islamic world, such as Nnaife's inheritance of his brother's wives when his brother dies. In the novel, this illustrates to some degree the manner in which women were considered more like property than individuals with their own wills and capabilities according to some interpretations and applications of Islam. This is not necessarily the best understanding to take away from this, however.

Mashour (2005) points out that the role of women in many Islamic countries has been in decline during the course of the modern era, not necessarily because of the rules of Islam, but because these societies are also heavily patriarchal and are becoming more so. While religion might relegate women to certain roles and place limitations on them that would still be considered unfair and unjust by modern Western perspectives, they were not treated as abysmally as they are now during the previous heights of the Islamic civilization (Mashour 2005). It is as religious doctrine has been used to take away economic and political rights that the plight of women has truly suffered, and thus it is to the economic and political imbalances that leaders must look if they hope to change the situation these women find themselves in, rather than to the actual religious laws or customs (Mashour 2005).

There is definitely some credence to this argument; in the novel, only one of the wives is actually obedient enough to… READ MORE