Posted on 06/25/2007 11:46:47 PM PDT by Lorianne
Uganda's Supreme Court recently nullified a law that made adultery criminal for women, but not men. The constitutional case also strengthened women's rights on divorce and inheritance. First in a series on women and the rule of law in Africa.
KAMPALA, Uganda (WOMENSENEWS)--Here in the capital of Uganda, policemen arrested a 30-year-old woman in her home five years ago. They took her to a hospital and forced her to undergo a complete medical examination. She was then taken to jail and charged with adultery, a crime only applicable to women.
Her husband also had extra marital affairs and kept a mistress, but he was not breaking the law. Adultery for men was legal. It was only a crime for wives.
But a group of women's rights advocates, Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda, set out to change all that.
In April, the Kampala-based group brought a separate case before the Ugandan Supreme Court, arguing that the 1995 national constitution ensures equal protection under the law. The court agreed and struck down criminal adultery, a profound victory for women's rights here. Now, husbands and wives are equal before the laws of adultery. Sort of.
While the laws now apply equally--adultery is decriminalized for both sexes--the real life consequences of adultery for women and men remain gravely different.
Across Uganda, where polygamy for men is legal, adultery committed by husbands is widely tolerated, while adultery committed by wives results in shame and stigma, says Irene Mulyagonja, a family law lawyer in Kampala.
'Almost Every Husband Commits Adultery' "There is an attitude here that men are entitled to commit adultery, it is a direct result of the legal and cultural tolerance of polygamy," she says. And while most couples opt for the monogamous or "civil" marriage over the polygamous or "customary" marriage, Mulyagonja says "almost every husband in the country commits adultery, even those in civil marriages; it is almost 100 percent."
Makerere University Faculty of Law Dean Sylvia Tamale agrees. "Most Ugandan husbands have mistresses or secret wives, even if they are in civil marriages. Monogamy doesn't fit here. It is totally alien. But women are shunned if they commit adultery."
The differing attitudes toward male and female sexual entitlements are what made the ruling so important. "The unjust adultery law was part and parcel of women's struggle for sexual autonomy," says Tamale. "And the control and regulation of our sexuality is central to our subordinate status."
Despite a countrywide bias in attitudes toward adultery, the Supreme Court unanimously declared the law to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Outcry Stirred The ruling stirred plenty of outcry in this largely Christian East African nation. Many church-based groups argued that it promoted immorality, promiscuity and Western decadence. The decision headlined both of the country's major newspapers and was followed for weeks with letters to the editor decrying it as the destruction of marriage and the decline of a morally upright culture.
A group of parliamentarians threatened to pass a law criminalizing adultery for both sexes. "But they knew they couldn't do that," says Tamale. "Because they would all be thrown in prison." A cartoon in the popular New Vision newspaper depicted members of parliament fleeing the chambers when the proposed criminalization was mentioned.
The ruling is particularly relevant here given cultural attitudes toward divorce. Divorces in Uganda are heavily stigmatized and difficult to obtain. Most marriages end in estrangement rather than legal divorce.
Until the adultery law was struck down, husbands estranged from their wives were permitted to have new relationships. But women would live alone for years or risk arrest if they saw other men, says Mulyagonja. Many of her clients charged with criminal adultery were estranged from their husbands and had lived apart for many years. Still, they were arrested and brought to court for their new relationships.
Divorce for Women Eased The demise of the criminal adultery law will also make divorces easier to obtain. Before the ruling, wives wishing to divorce their husbands had to prove adultery plus cruelty and desertion, while men had only to prove adultery. Now adultery is sufficient grounds for either party.
"There are implications here for HIV-AIDS," says Mulyagonja. "Before, a wife could not divorce her husband solely on the grounds of adultery. She was forced to endure whatever diseases he brought home. Now she is empowered to leave him when he sleeps around."
Embedded in the adultery ruling were a number of other decisions pertaining to inheritance. Laws that gave widowers the right to 100 percent of deceased wives' property and widows only 15 percent were also nullified, as were laws that gave a deceased husband's family full rights to a widow's children. As of yet, no new succession laws have been drafted to replace them.
While these rulings failed to generate the popular uproar faced by the adultery ruling, they all speak to a similar trend.
Despite a culture of inequity, women's rights are slowly but surely being protected by the law. "Our constitution is very good," says Mulyagonja. "It gives us a very strong base from which to advocate for our rights. That's why I have hope that in my children's lifetime, maybe, polygamy too will be outlawed."
Polygamy is not adultery.
That’s not what the article is claiming.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were adulterers?
They were Old Testament. The New Testament replaced that. See Matt 5:27-32.
That could be debated. But it is clear from the bible that polygamy was not God's design for marriage from the beginning.
Gen 2:24: A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife (not wives) and the two (not three or four or more) shall become one flesh.
Gen. 2:24 was Old Testament as well. Also, there were several circumstances in the Mosaic Law the REQUIRED polygamy.
Strange that Jesus used a polygamist parable in the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew 25.
It's highly unlikely that these people are Christians.
L
Yeah, and?
Also, there were several circumstances in the Mosaic Law the REQUIRED polygamy.
Please point me to these laws that require polygamy.
The parable of the 10 virgins is not a polygamist parable. Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven.
I agree. But the writer made a reference to Uganda being largely a Christian nation. Given the location of Uganda I would imagine that one would see mostly Animists and Muslims.
Then why didn't he just say that? "Hey y'all. I'm talking about Heaven now. So don't y'all think you can have 10 virgins a piece or anything."
Just asking.
L
But the 10 virgins bit does sound fun!
Trust me, it's over rated. Everything requires an explanation and training one isn't as easy as one would think.
L
It appears to me you are mistaken.
1 Timothy 3:2
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
So that is a specific qualifier for persons in the Role of Bishop.
It is not even a prohibition for those above the position of Bishop. Certainly not a prohibition of polygamy for the body.
Bishops perform a special role in the church (generic) and have some special job pre-qualification standards.
Could you reference within the new testament what it is you base your contention that polygamy is prohibited and adulterous?
W
See post # 7 for text of Genesis 2:24. Also see Matt 19:1-8. He repeats the Gen 2:24 text and reinforces it. Note the He says ‘..they are no longer two, but one...’ See Matt 5 for teachings on lust. If you are married to one woman and lust after another woman, He considers it adultery, (and He is realy the one whose opinion counts). So if you are married to two or more women you are committing adultery with at least one of them. He leaves no wiggle room on this.
If I own one car, and constantly think about ways to cheat my neighbor and get his, then I am commiting lust and covetness towards my neighbor. If I have one car, and then acquire another legitimately, there is nothing wrong with that.
I think the same would apply to polygamy. Nathan condemned David for lusting after another’s wife (to the point of sending him in to combat to get killed) when God had blessed him with six wives already. Nathan was a prophet of God — God apparently did not tell him that David had commited adultery with the five additional wives he had but had given him six.
I have talked with people from Turkey and Ethiopia who say that Christians also take additional wives in these countries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.