No to polygamy

The proposed laws seem to align with the patriarchal narrative of ‘men will be men’.

News on two proposed laws about marriage in Nepal are currently doing the rounds on social media. At the centre of these online discussions are women. The government has initiated a process to revise existing laws to lower the minimum marriage age from 20 years to 18 years, which is something also recommended by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Plus, the Cabinet is drafting a bill to legalise polygamy by compelling a married man to marry for a second time if he is found to have had an extramarital affair resulting in the birth of an illegitimate child.