This paper examines female characters engaged in marriage or polygamy in Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come, interrogating how they navigate, resist, and sometimes reinforce patriarchal systems. Through close textual analysis, this study reveals how both authors portray women in ambivalent positions, asserting agency while simultaneously internalising or perpetuating oppression. The paper examines themes of education, marriage, motherhood, voice, sexuality, and tradition, situating the novels within a broader postcolonial feminist framework. By juxtaposing Shoneyin’s depiction of polygamous domestic politics with Atta’s narrative of female coming-of-age and political awakening, the analysis illuminates how feminist agency is often fraught with contradictions. Drawing inspiration from key feminist theorists like bell hooks, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Oyèrónke.́ Oyěwùmí, Judith Butler, Obioma Nnaemeka, and Amina Mama. This paper reinforces the nego-feminist praxis that is dominant in most contemporary African novels.