In about half of African countries south of the Sahara Desert, it is not against the law for a man to force his wife to have sex with him. In at least three countries in the area, laws do not permit women to bring rape charges against their husbands.

There have been efforts to make spousal, or marital, rape a crime. But they have been debated.

The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women recognized spousal rape as gender-based violence in 1980. Sub-Saharan African countries have taken several actions to make spousal rape a crime since then.

South Africa was one of the first to take action. In 1993, legislators changed a law that said a man could not be charged with raping his wife. The new law stated that “a husband may be convicted of the rape of his wife.”

Since then, almost 20 other African countries have taken similar steps. But Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya are not among them. The laws in those countries say rape can only happen outside of a marriage.

Rape and family violence are underreported throughout Africa. And even in the countries that have made marital rape a crime, few people accept it as such.

In Uganda, a bill making marital rape a crime was controversial when it was debated by parliament earlier this year. The bill gives a wife the right to say no to sex, but only soon after childbirth or if she believes her husband has a sexually transmitted disease.