WOMAN-TO-WOMAN MARRIAGE - PRACTICES AND BENEFITS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

This article examines the various forms of woman-to-woman marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and discusses how each form can or could have been used by a woman to advance her social and/or economic status in societ y. Woman-to-woman marriage may also be beneficial to the persons invol ved other than the woman who initiates the marriage (the so-called fem ale husband). The motivations of the other participants are also exami ned. Cross-culturally, women take wives under three circumstances, all of which enhance the status of the female husband: 1) barren women ta ke wives to gain rights over children produced; 2) rich women accumula te wives to gain prestige and wealth in the same way men do through po lygyny; and 3) in societies where women possess the right to have.a da ughter-in-law, a woman without a son may take a wife to give her a non -existent son.