PanOrient News | More Than Half of Women in Emirates Accept Idea of ‘Second Wife’

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More Than Half of Women in Emirates Accept Idea of ‘Second Wife’

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Dubai– PanOrient News

Nearly 50 percent of Emirati women said they accept the idea of being a second wife, even to a man with children from a first wife, while 69 percent of Emirati men favor having a second wife, according to a recent survey by the University of Sharjah in the UAE.

But those numbers don’t reflect the reality in the country, where only 3 percent of marriages involve two or more wives, the survey noted.

Dr. Ibrahim Al Darmaki, who led the team that conducted the survey, explained to a local newspaper that the high rate of women who have no objection to tying the knot with married men, reflects a positive approach to the merits of polygamy, which is not illegal under Islamic law, rather than worrying about its negatives.

Islam allows men to marry up to four women, but Sharia Law imposes strict conditions in order to approve a second, third or even fourth marriage. The conditions include the man being perfectly fair to his wives, something pundits say is impossible.

Surprisingly, not all men rushing to increase the number of wives they have, according to the survey which found that 31 percent of men object to a second wife.

The reason for that, the survey found, is that 34 percent of this group of men “fears the possibility of favoring the first wife more or less than the second, thus not treating both wives evenly.” Another 29 percent of men said they can’t afford to marry a second wife, while 20 percent said they feared getting into trouble with the first wife and her parents.

The survey also found that “intense jealousy” represents the main reason for women to refuse being a second wife. The next reason was “concern of being left out in the cold by the husband.”

The survey, which covered 2,657 people across the country, recommended an increase in funds to support men desiring to marry a second wife “on the basis that the Islamic Law allows it.”

PanOrient News