Polygamy in Britain

Should men be allowed more than one wife in the UK? The US polygamy trial of Tom Green has again sparked arguments in Britain too. Christine Aziz has been investigating the debate over polygamy in the UK.

Alleged bigamist Tom Green claims he's simply following old-style Mormon practice, by having five wives, and that it's his right under religious freedom. Now that the new Human Rights Act as come into force in the UK, we could all have the right to have more than one spouse. Members of the Muslim Parliament in Britain are hoping that the new Act, will make it possible for polygamy to be legalised.

Under Muslim law a man is allowed up to four wives but he must be able to show that he can treat each woman equally and provide a separate home for each one. At present it's believed there are 300 polygamous families living in the UK.

If polygamous marriages are recognised under British law, polyandry – where women can have more than one husband – could also become law under our equal rights legislation.

Nushaba Hussein, chair of the Human Rights Action Committee of the Muslim Parliament says recognising polygamy would give legal recourse to women should their husband die intestate or if the relationship fails. She cites the case study below as an example:

Samira's story Samira came from a poor family in Pakistan. A marriage was arranged for her with a much older man in the UK. Shortly after her arrival, her husband died. Ejaz, a rich businessman, whose wife was ill and infertile offered to make her his second wife, and married her in a Muslim ceremony at a London mosque. She moved into the home that Ejaz shared with his first wife. Samira had two children from Ejaz but his first wife became jealous and eventually threw her out with her two children.

Samira's story...
Her compatriots treated her contemptuously and called her a loose woman. In their eyes she was a shamed woman with two failed marriages. No family would want to be associated with her, and certainly no other man would marry her again.

Ejaz stopped paying maintenance for Samira and her children. Within her community Samira was treated as a single woman with two illegitimate children. In western society this generally no longer carries a stigma, but in the Asian community where values are more conservative, life can be made impossible.

Samira has no access to the courts to demand payment for herself as a legal wife, neither is she able to obtain maintenance for the children and rights of inheritance for them.

What the Muslim Parliament says:
According to Nushaba Hussein, Samira's case highlights the vulnerability of women in polygamous marriages and making it legal would give leave them less open to abuse.

'It does happen that Islam's very strict conditions for polygamy are occasionally abused. These men would like to keep subsequent marriages clandestine so that women can't do anything if the they choose to renege on their duties, or leave them,' she adds.

'They are reduced to nothing more than mistresses, which in Islamic society is very shameful. They don't have a right to inheritance, which is a problem when husbands die intestate. I know of cases where the husband has provided a wife and his children with a house but not made a will, and it has been taken away from them once he has died, leaving them homeless'

The Muslim Parliament's call for recognition of polygamous marriages has been met with a mix of criticism and silence:

Church of England
'Polygamy doesn't fit in with the Christian idea of marriage,' said a spokesman for the Church of England. 'It may be a cultural practise in some parts of the world, but many cultures used to practise slavery but that doesn't make it right.'

The Women's Institute
The WI, usually quick to comment on social issues involving women and children, refused to comment, saying it was not a policy issue that had been discussed by its members.

The Equal Opportunities Commission
The EOC refused to comment on the matter, but a spokesman later pointed out that once polygamy became law, British women would have the right to have more than one husband under equal opportunities legislation.

The Commission for Racial Equality
The CRE was at first unwilling to comment on the Muslim Parliament's campaign, but later allowed BEME to talk to its head of legal policy, Barbara Cohen. 'It will be interesting to see how Human Rights legislation will deal with this question,' she said. 'It would have to be weighed up against public interests and will be unpicking laws that are historically against polygamy. The focus of the argument is likely to fall on ways benefit agencies can recognise more than one wife'.

The Home Office
According to a Home Office spokesman, if polygamy is legalised it will allow everyone, not only Muslims, to have more than one spouse. 'You cannot limit legislation to one group,' he said, adding that polygamy or polyandry are unlikely to be made law in the UK. 'Some rights are very broad but will have to be taken into account with existing laws. It will be up to the courts to decide. We are a one-man, one-woman society and this is unlikely to change'.

In America, the debate rages on and in the website listed below you can read stories of women who not only enjoy being in a polygamous marriage - they believe it liberates them. One goes so far to say that it's the 'ultimate feminist lifestyle' because the other wives can make sure the childcare is sorted and the husband never has to put up with a TV dinner.

Source: BeMe.com