Why Marrying a Married-Man? Qualitative Exploration of Plural Marriage System

Ayotunde Titilayo, Obafemi Awolowo University
Oladele Madamilola, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

The motivations of polygynous marriage are far from been settled, while some believe in the age-long marital arrangement, others claim that it is absolutely oppressive to women folks. This paper provides qualitative and pragmatic description of why Yoruba women marry married-men despite the arguments and disadvantages credited to this plural marriage system. The study primarily relied on findings from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews research strategy among polygynous women in two typical Yoruba settings of Ile-Ife and Modakeke, South-western, Nigeria. The findings unearthed factual reasons why polygyny is likely to outlive its welcome in traditional societies of Africa. The study concluded that discussion of polygyny needs to be understood from women’s perception before agreeing to the previous plausible consensus and explanations about polygyny in literature since economic security, religion injunction, deception, culture and tradition beliefs were considered as major determinants of polygamous way of family life among the Yorubas.