Pretoria: Soon enough, women in South Africa will be allowed to marry more than one husband, just like men are permitted to have multiple wives. The move has been proposed by the country’s Department of Home Affairs, which is looking at creating a new marriage act and trying to make marriage more inclusive. According to the Green Paper on Marriages, a policy document published this week, the current marriage act does not promote equality and the current marriage legislation is discriminatory as it does not recognise Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Rastafarian marriages. The policy document also called for polyandry to be legally recognised as a form of marriage, BBC reported. Also Read - Bihar Groom Lifts Newly Wed Bride on His Shoulder to Help Her Cross Flooded River

Many human rights activists and other groups were consulted on the key issues, before drafting the proposal. The human rights activists “submitted that equality demands that polyandry be legally recognized as a form of marriage.”

However, conservatives and some religious groups are miffed with the proposal. Despite the fact that South Africa allows same-sex marriages and polygamy for men, many opposed polyandry, saying it will ‘destroy African culture.’