Egyptian activists call for polygamy

Polygamy is becoming a hot topic after some women activists have launched a campaign to encourage well-off men to marry more than one woman. This trend was initiated in an Egyptian soap broadcast during Ramadan – 13 million Egyptian men and women are currently single. Activist Hayam Darbak suggested that polygamy for a wealthy man was a good way to help single women. She told Arabstoday: “Many women have been forced into marriages with older men who are already married to other women. We want well-off men to take several wives to give them financial stability.” Darbak added: “The woman should agree to be taken as a third or even fourth wife, but the husband must protect her and love her: we want the wife to keep her dignity.” Ten and a half million women over the age of 35 are single. There are 1,5 million divorced women in Egypt: Egyptian courts receive a divorce request every six minutes. Some statistics have revealed that a third of marriages end up in a divorce.