Minale Beyene

The Role and Status of Women in Polygamous Households: a Case Study of the Impact of Polygamy on the Life of Women in Illu Abba Bor Administrative Zone Minale Beyene

I was already a widow and had three children when in 1968. I married my present husband. But I could not bear him children after our marriage despite long years of economically successful marriage. In 1980 he married a young girl without my permission. She bore him one son, but he divorced her due to conflict between them then he married a second wife in 1990. The latter was actually a servant in my own house. One night he told me that he decided to marry her and did it the next day. I am getting older; all my children from the former marriage are married. My husband is however neglecting me and taking all the property to my junior co-wife who bore him five children. My house is getting very old but for the co-wife a new one is constructed. His coffee harvest is all taken to her house there are also days when I even starve and had no coffee to drink