Four years. That was how long she lasted until the strain of sharing her husband with another woman became too much to bear for Mariam Abdul. The Malaysian woman had been married for 16 years when her husband told her he was marrying a second wife. Under sharia law in Malaysia, men may legally marry up to four wives.
But while it may be legal, she said she could no longer pretend she was part of a happy marriage.
At the age of 42, the mother of four filed for divorce, and moved out of the marital home with her children in 1984. She said her husband refused to provide any financial support for their children until eight years later - and her family and friends 'scolded' her for getting a divorce.
'I wanted to keep the marriage. I tried but I couldn't do it,' she said. 'I asked for the divorce because I couldn't stand it any longer. If he loved me he wouldn't do this to me.'
The predicaments experienced by Muslim women like her are the impetus for a global movement launched last month to fight against discriminatory laws in Muslim countries.
At an international conference in Kuala Lumpur, more than 250 scholars, lawyers, activists and community workers from around the world discussed how various laws made in the name of Islam discriminate against women, from experiences in countries where women struggle to gain custody of their children to laws which forbid them to drive.