In the last 5 years, 38 Uzbeks were criminated for polygamy, In 2018 to 2022, 34 individuals were brought into court, and 4 more in the first half of 2023. Uzbek authorities report, that the polygamy problem in the country is of big magnitude. Criminal pursuit does not scare polygamists off desire to have several wives.
Responsibility Evasion
Punishment for polygamy is not that frightening, as one could think. An polygamist Uzbek polygamist will penalties that equal some KZT 630 000 to KZT 1.2 million. Or, they may be mobilized to community work for the period of up to three years, or be put in custodial restraint for 1 to 3 years, or put in detention for the period of three years.
Uzbekistan government introduced above measures of punishment in 2017, when they realized the scope and the magnitude of consequences and implications from polygamy.
By law, citizens of Uzbekistan are allowed to have just one marriage. Other marriages are made final by means of Nikah (Muslim matrimonial procedure), which procedure is not officially registered with state bodies.
Human rights activists report, that rich Uzbeks go for multiple marriages – not necessarily with the goodwill of their future partners. Also, children born in polygamic families face problems in future. They do not feel themselves as full-fledged members of society, encounter problems entering kindergartens and schools, and face problems with inheritance rights. The self-proclaimed polygamists very often abandon families and reject responsibility for the future of their offspring. Abandoned women suffer from shame and poverty.
Clerics condone that practice. The law does not punish clerics for endorsement of religious marriages.
Wife as a Car …
Kazakhstan does not endorse polygamy either. Back in 2021, the leadership of the then existing Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic adopted an Edict prohibiting polygamy. That provision was in the legislations of the Soviet Socialist Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Contrary to Central Asian neighbors, Kazakhstan abolished criminal punishment for polygamy in 1998. In 2008, Kazakh MPs made an attempt to officially allow polygamy. The parliamentary majority disapproved of that initiative. In respond to that, some Kazakh women demanded introduction of the institution of polyandry.
Despite official ban on polygamy, there are way more many men with several families at one time, that one might imagine.
In Kazakhstan, there is a new proverb nowadays – Astana is the city of Tokals (junior wives), while Almaty is the city of Baibishes (senior wives). That proverb appeared in 1998, when the Government and all institutions of statehood relocated to Astana from Almaty – public servants relocated north, their wives stayed home in the south. Eventually, those men assimilated in the north and acquired themselves new families. Every man decides for himself, whether his first wife should be aware of the presence of the second wife, but, according to a modern-era tradition, a man must bring gifts to both.
Kazakh society nowadays deems that several wives reflect the special status of a man, a sigh of prestige. The first wife is in place forever, while junior wives may change.
Such practice is contagious. In Kyrgyzstan, a man might be put in jail for two years for having several wives, but that does not stop clerics propagandizing polygamy.
Recently, a Kyrgyz cleric, Chubak Zhalilov declared he had two wives. Thus, he tried to become an example for other men to follow. Despite the public noise, Zhalilov was not punished. Kyrygyz police explained that punishment would only be possible upon receipt of an appropriate official complaint from his official spouse or a citizen, who disposes of verified information regarding that violation.
And above is present all over the Republic – despite punishment envisaged by law, in fact nobody is punished for polygamy.
Kazakh reality is more transparent – there is no law, and there is now punishment.
Put up or Divorce
In 2004, there was a public poll in Kazakhstan, by which it appeared that 40% of men and 22% of women in Kazakhstan supported polygamy legalization. Those 22% of women did support polygamy, but with certain conditions.
The situation did not change drastically since 2004. Life shows that polygamy is promoted by men, who want it for public status. Women agreeing to be second wives, do so for financial considerations or uphold old ideology that allows them to tolerate the presence of other women in the lives of their husbands.
There are situations, when first women are not shocked about the second, third and fourth wives. So, there is a question – can we punish a man for polygamy. Kazakh lawyers explain that we cannot, for the fact that polygamy, as a term, is not present in the Kazakhstan legislation. The only thing the one and only can do is to divorce from the man, or put up. And nothing else…