Should a man and a woman live together when they have not been put together as husband and wife? Have you ever wondered whether two adults of the opposite sex who live together under the same roof and who perform the roles of husband and wife meet the requirement to be accorded the titles husband and wife?
As I type this article, I know of a woman who has been sharing a room with her boyfriend for almost two months. Apparently, she has no idea what the concept of cohabitation really means.
What is cohabitation?
I am not an expert and will not claim to be one. But from my layman’s point of view, I will like to refer to cohabitaion as a situation where an arrangement is made between two people who are not married to live together in a romantic and intimate relationship on a permanent basis. Such a relationship may not be legally recognised under the customary law or meet traditional requirements.
It is interesting how the youth of today, especially females are caught in the web of love such that they tend to throw caution to the wind even when the writings were clearly on the wall that such relationships were bound to hit the rocks.
To some of them, it is the best way to test one’s compatibility with a partner before they commit to a legal union. Many of them also think that it is a way to anchor themselves financially since their burden of winning bread on a daily basis will be borne by their partner.
It is quite startling to see young ladies in second cycle and tertiary institutions leave school for a number of days, weeks or even months just to put up with their partners at the blind side of their parents and school authorities. When such young people eventually leave school, the tendency to cohabitate is high.
Effects of cohabitation
In recent times, there have been many incidences of domestic violence, broken homes and other challenges families go through. Many of these challenges have often led to separation and physical abuses. In situations such as these, the children become wayward since they are deprived of the care, protection and affection that parents ought to give them. In the long run, such children may grow to become a threat to society.
Apart from the fact that cohabitation ruins one’s spiritual fibre, it is also at variance with the cultural norms of the society that enjoins only two consenting adults, who have gone through the required pocesses, to live together.
Recently, Parliament’s Legal and Constitutional Committee recommended that the controversial cohabitation provisions from the property rights of the ‘Spouses Bill’ be expunged.
The committee underscored the need to discourage unmarried couples from living together; a practice they said was frowned upon by the Ghanaian culture. This is against the backdrop that conflicts have often arisen on the right to property when the cohabitating couples part company. In extreme cases, they ended up being locked up in prolonged litigations.
The concerns
The crux of the matter is that if nothing is done to sanitise the institution of marriage that has virtually been diluted by the increasing rate of cohabitation, the future of the country will be bleak. In this regard, one will be tempted to ask if the agents of socialisation such as the family, the school, the church or mosque are up to the task of initiating the younger generation into the realities of life. I just keep wondering whether the mass media and the movie industry will be made to tone down on how they generate content that portray the concept of cohabitation.
Faith-based organisations such as churches, mosques and our chieftancy institutions have a great role to play because they are the institutions that deal directly with the institution of marriage.
Conclusion
All said and done, it is important for the younger generation to know that life ought to be taken one step after another. Marriage is an institution that requires adequate preparation both in the physical and psychological realms, anything short of which will send partners crashing. The youth, perhaps needs to take a cue from Mathew 7:24-27 in the Bible which enjoins all and sundry to build their house on a rock so that it does not fall at the slightest rainfall or storm. The youth, who are either cohabitating or who have the intention to do so, must bear in mind that if one climbs an unripe tree, one comes down with an unripe fruit.
