https://phys.org/news/2018-07-radio-empower-women-niger.html

Many women have only a patchy knowledge of their legal rights; many are uncertain about the legal age of consent, or differences between official, traditional or customary marriages. They are disempowered, have no voice in society, and are excluded from decision-making. Polygamy is also commonplace and legal, and Niger has the world's highest fertility rate at 7.2 births per woman.

Many respondents in my ongoing fieldwork appear to accept the situation. As Mariama and her co-respondent Amina agreed: "It is better to be a second or third wife than not married at all. So long as the husband manages it, polygamy can work well – it allows all women to be married." Forced marriage does still occur, and while many brides can choose their future husbands, it's their fathers who have the final say. However elevated they may be in their professional lives, wives are then subject to the will of their husbands.