[pksadiq]

> The strangest thing is that there's a sizable number of women who support the law in its current form.

Different localities have different cultures, and for some, it's good. Say for example, in my locality (Kerala), Muslim men have more than a wife only on certain conditions like:

1. The first wife can't bear a child and the person marries another one without avoiding the earlier wife

2. Marrying widows so as to protect them (there might be occasional cases of exploiting this too, though I'm not aware of any).

I do also have seen a finger countable cases where a man marries some women to threaten other wives. But so far, I remember only two such cases in my neighborhood, and none in my family. Usually such men get really less support from the community.

So women having such an experience shall be supporting the current law.

[jeswin]

> Different localities have different cultures, and for some, it's good.

Men deciding what women want is a repugnant thing to do. To use your own examples:

1. If infertility is with the man, can the woman simulataneously keep two husbands?

2. Can a woman marry a widower to take care of him while being in a marriage?

Pretty sure this is blasphemous in Islam.

[pksadiq]

When you comment about culture, be sure you know something about it.

It's pretty much hard to get a woman married once divorced (pretty much every village in India at least, to say). But for males that isn't usually the case.

And considering Islam, it is men's duty to protect and feed his women, not the other way. I think this is true for all Abrahamic religions.

In Islam, this is even true when the women is rich. That is, the ownership of women's property won't change before or after marriage. The man have to provide food and shelter to his wife and children regardless of the women's wealth. Women is free from such duties. There are also other issues like inheritance (finding the true father of child), or considering the spouse equally (to the extend that a person with two wives should spent every alternate day which one wife and the other day with the other. This isn't possible when a woman marry two man, where there is pregnancy period, etc.)

And to answer your question: No. Islam doesn't allow that.

[jeswin]

We're moving to a world where women will be equal partners in the workforce, even in India. We should take steps to achieve gender equality faster, and religion steeped in centuries old customs isn't helping.

Women's rights are an absolute, irrespective of whichever religion people belong. If that means striking off what's regressive from the holy books, that's what liberal believers need to do. The sooner we get to Uniform Civil Code, the better.

[zpatel]

well, you are imposing your liberal view on others by imposing uniform civil code which will be modelled possiblt after the majority religion in country (india) ?

[gkya]

I think your interlocutor is just trying to show why some Muslim women support polygamy. And there certainly are such women. We can't just dismiss an insight into why that is the case because you dislike the situation, no?

[int_19h]

So, to sum it up: it is misogynistic.

(Same as most Abrahamic religions, since you mentioned those.)

And no, "it's our culture" is not an excuse for that.