Weird: Why Straight Women Are Marrying Each Other In Tanzania

Tanzania – It’s quite odd isn’t it. Very odd indeed. But it is equally true as well. If you live in some remote regions of the United Republic of Tanzania, then seeing two women married to each other wouldn’t be a rare sight [ which of course it should be, given the fact that this is Africa].

In the Tarime district of the Mara region in northern Tanzania, there’s an age-old tradition which involves women marrying women. Now this may not be all terrible and inhumane as you may think, but the tradition actually serves to protect the rights of women rather than just put them in marriages they’d rather not be in. But given the fact, that this ‘gracious’ gesture has only come to be as a result of other traditions that violate these rights, it’s a sure case of “thanks-but-no-thanks”.

This alternative family structure, known as Nyumba Nthobu, has become a practical alternative for many as it serves to protect the women in these cases from completely losing everything in the event of a husband’s death.

In these districts, it’s also a much more ancient tradition that women with no male heir are allowed to and cannot inherit any property. So women who have no male children prior to their husband’s decease, often find themselves with nothing. Not even a roof to lay their heads at night. Everything is taken from them. Hence this solution.

Take for instance, Wagesa and Nyanswi, two women from the Kuria community in one of these regions, have been married to each other for the past 15years. Wagesa’s husband is late and since she has no male heir, she cannot inherit anything. So marries Nyanswi who has boys. Together, the couple have six boys, fathered by a relative of Wagesa’s late husband. . .problem solved. The wheel of inheritance is kept spinning.

The tradition is also a route of escape from domestic violence as 6 in every 10 women in the region have experienced either physical or emotional violence.