WUNRN
Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
TAJIKISTAN - POLYGAMY COMMON BUT
ILLEGAL - FEWER MALES - RIGHTS RISKS FOR SECOND WIVES +
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 experienced a 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.
Ruzigul, a 29-year-old Dushanbe
resident, has found herself in a difficult situation as the third wife of a man
who is gradually distancing himself from her and their children.
“These days, he comes only once a
week. Sometimes he doesn’t bring any money for months at a time,” she said.
“But what can I do?”.
Ruzigul has two children with her
present husband, and two from an earlier marriage.
When she agreed to a religious
marriage, she was aware that her husband already had a legal wife, but not that
he also had a second one. At the time, she was struggling to make ends meet,
and her job as a waitress did not pay enough to pay cover the rent and look
after her children.
Her first husband, whom she married
at 15, went off to Russian as a labour migrant and never came back. She also
had a second husband, who left her after a year.
Ruzigul is not keen to go through
the Islamic divorce rite, as she would find it hard to remarry, and at least
this way she still has the social status of a married woman.
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 came the mass exodus
of labour to Russia and other countries in search of work. While many husbands
send money home to support their households, others settle down and marry
again.
For women like Ruzigul, entering
into a polygamous marriage can be an economic necessity.
“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 Samiev
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.”
Oinikhol 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.
According to Bobonazarova, families’
expectations of their daughters are commonly low.
“Traditionally, every family here
will have two or three girls. They don’t study, and they aren’t brought up to
fend for themselves. The only thing they are taught is to how to become a
housewife,” she said.
Social affairs commentator Bobojon
Qayumzod points out that while Islam allows a man to marry up to four wives, it
also requires him to treat them and provide for them in an even-handed manner.
“That isn’t what happens here,” he added.
Bobonazarova said that when couples
bound only by Islamic marriage separated, “the women and children have no
economic protection”.
Husbands are required to provide for
their children in the event of a separation, but this is harder to enforce when
there is no wedding certificate.
First wives often have little choice
but to accept their husbands’ decision to marry again.
Shahlo, 41, said her husband took a
second wife despite her objections.
“No first wife … will agree to her
husband having several wives,” she said, adding that she was jealous but
realised there was nothing she could do about it.
“If he can find a good, pure woman,
then let him marry her,” she said. “But I don’t think she will be able to
compete with me.”
The fact that polygamy is now so
commonplace has led even some advocates of women’s rights to suggest that
legalising 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 legalised polygamy in Iran meant that there were
“very few cases” of it in that country.