DUSHANBE, December 14, 2011, Asia-Plus – An article “Multiple Marriages in Tajikistan” by Haramgul Qodir posted on the website of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) on December 13 notes that the rise of polygamous marriages since Tajikistan became independent two decades ago has left “second wives” with few legal and economic rights.
The tradition of polygamy reportedly experienced resurgence after 1991 – before that, the Soviet authorities cracked down hard on what they regarded as an ugly vestige of the past. A survey conducted last year by the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tajikistan indicated that one in ten men had more than one wife.
Tajikistan’s secular legislation bans polygamy, so second and third marriages are contracted outside civil law, using only the Muslim wedding rite used as “nikoh” which for many people is far more meaningful. Attempts by the authorities to force clerics to demand a civil wedding certificate before blessing a marriage have so far failed.
When marriages – often including monogamous ones – are not registered with the civil authorities, wives enjoy no legal protections or rights to a share of property if they separate.
One of the main factors behind the rise in polygamous marriages is the consistent gender imbalance that has been a feature of Tajikistan since independence in 1991. First there was the 1992-97 civil war in which many men were killed or displaced. Then the mass exodus of labor to Russia and other countries in search of work came. While many husbands send money home to support their households, others settle down and marry again.
“It is understandable that despite the shortage of men, women still want to get married and have children. That is why they agree to become second or third wives,” sociology expert Rustam Samiyev said.
Karomat, 24, believes she made the right decision when she became second wife to a government official with a well-paid job. She says his family knows about the arrangement. “I did work, but my small salary wasn’t enough to live on,” she said. “Now he’s bought me a flat. I don’t work but I live well.”
Ms. Oinihol Bobonazarova, head of the Perspektiva Plus NGO, said polygamy was now widely accepted, given the country’s Islamic inheritance and the lack of any effective legal sanctions. “In the Soviet Union, people were afraid and kept it secret. Now almost every government official has two or three wives,” she said. “Even fathers agree to them [daughters] becoming second or third wives.”
A government official who has two wives himself told IWPR that since the people in charge were Muslim like the bulk of Tajikistan’s population, they saw nothing really wrong with the practice.
First wives often have little choice but to accept their husbands’ decision to marry again.
The fact that polygamy is now so commonplace has led even some advocates of women’s rights to suggest that legalizing it might be the answer. At least that would provide wives with legal protections, and impose rules on their husbands.
Bobonazarova said that the financial obligations stemming from legalized polygamy in Iran meant that there were “very few cases” of it in that country. Marifat Shokirova of the government committee responsible for women’s affairs expressed similar views, saying legalization of polygamy could help mitigate some of the problems associated with it.
