South Africa considers legalizing women to marry more than one man

The Department of Home Affairs, South Africa have published a 67-page policy document also called Green Paper on Marriages.

One of the wide-ranging proposals in the document is the legalization of polyandry in the country. The department stressed in the document that it sought to create a new Marriage Act that will allow all in the country to conclude recognized, legal marriages.

A range of types of marriages in the country were not recognised; and on the other hand, marriage legislation was deemed to not promote equality. Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Rastafarian marriages were not recognised by South African law. The green paper introduces proposals for their recognition.

“The failure to recognise these religious marriages is untenable and discriminatory. Moreover, activists submitted that equality demands that polyandry be legally recognised as a form of marriage,” said the document.