Survey finds 70 per cent of Malaysian Muslim women believe polygamy is a right for men
- The survey by NGO Sisters in Islam also found that 21 per cent of respondents believed a husband had a right to strike a wife
- Prominent women’s rights activist Marina Mahathir says there is a disconnect between what Muslim women expect and what happens in real life
But despite the widespread acceptance of polygamy, only 32 per cent of the 650 respondents in the study by NGO Sisters in Islam would allow their husbands to take another wife.
A common complaint in the 176 polygamy-related divorce cases handled by Telenisa, the legal aid clinic run by Sisters in Islam, was that men had entered into subsequent marriages without the knowledge or permission of the first wife.
Another issue was that of financial maintenance: 9.7 per cent of Telenisa’s clients in polygamy cases said their husbands no longer supported them, and 10.8 per cent said their children did not receive any financial support from their fathers.
In some cases, these marriages were done in secret at the border of Malaysia and Thailand, bypassing domestic laws, Sisters in Islam said.