Forbidden Intimacies by Melanie Heath

Author:Melanie Heath
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The clandestinity of polygyny is fueled by the fact that anyone identified as living in a state of polygyny in France could lose their residence permit, which breeds conditions of hiding. Fatou explained the serious consequences for polygynous families: “They are obliged to lie, they are obliged to hide, they are obliged to say this, to say that, but none of it is true!” Even more troubling, second or third wives often have no existence in the eyes of French law. Association director Aissata told me that before 1993 wives would often remain underground until they had their first child, at which point they could apply for status as the parent of a French child and their “clandestinity could stop.” However, sometimes “husbands held them back” to avoid losing benefits. This reticence worsened once the policy of decohabitation was put into place. Younger wives with children would receive benefits as single women once they had their own residence. Because the children of the first wives were often adults or nearly adults, this meant that the husband and first wife were no longer eligible to receive benefits. Thus husbands would try to block the process.

The most extreme cases of hiding completely erased the identity of secondary wives. Often, they would have to use the legal documentation of the official wife. Sekou, who heads an organization for immigrant African men, explained:

[The second wife’s] children will not be in her name. When a woman in France is undocumented, when she goes to the hospital, when she is pregnant, she uses the residence permit of the first wife. In most cases, she is not the mother of the children [in the eyes of the law]. So, for her to get out of hiding, she must have a residence permit. A residence permit frees her!

Stories of women who had no identity in France were prevalent. Simone, who works with an association to help immigrant women, told me about a woman who had been married in Côte d’Ivoire. This woman was illiterate and did not know that there was already a first wife. When her husband brought her to France, he took care of the administrative procedures, and she had a ten-year residence permit. Later, a neighbor saw that the name on the permit was not hers. Instead, it was the name of the first wife, who had given birth to three children in France with their husband. So, the second wife had given birth to her children using the other’s residence permit. The children belonged to the first wife in the eyes of French law. It took years of going through the process of decohabitation and completing paperwork to finally gain her own identity and register her children in her own name.

Likewise, Djénabou, who left her polygynous marriage, discussed families that she knew where the second wives lived completely underground. According to her, although the law banning polygamy is important because it sets limits, it also gets in the way of helping many women.

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