New Polygamy Bill Challenges Iraq’s Family Dynamic
In the upcoming months, Iraqi MP Jamila Al-Obeidi will present a polygamy law to the Council of Representatives that would grant a financial reward to married men who choose to take another wife. Mrs. Al-Obeidi, not only believes the bill would be instrumental in solving Iraq’s problem with the growing number of widowed and divorced women, […]Walaa Al-Taee writes for 1001 Iraqi Thoughts:
In the upcoming months, Iraqi MP Jamila Al-Obeidi will present a polygamy law to the Council of Representatives that would grant a financial reward to married men who choose to take another wife.
Mrs. Al-Obeidi, not only believes the bill would be instrumental in solving Iraq’s problem with the growing number of widowed and divorced women, but she went on to give a televised interview calling married women who opposed the bill “selfish.”
Many female MPs have already denounced the bill, claiming that giving men a sum of money to take on a second wife is “insulting to Iraqi women” and equated the bill to “trafficking” by offering women no other choice than to wed for money. Moreover, MP Hanan Al-Fatlawi argued the new bill would “objectify women.”
