Gender assessment of the institute of polygamy (on the example of Dagestan)

Abstract

In the family and marriage sphere of the Dagestan peoples, polygamy was widespread, although it was not a mass phenomenon in the recent past of the history of the peoples of Dagestan. According to the results of the study, it was found that the interviewed Dagestani women categorically do not accept the status of a “second wife” for themselves, moreover, they demonstrate a negative attitude in general to the emergence of the institution of polygamy at the present time. Empirical material shows that the marriage attitudes of the interviewed Dagestani women are not influenced by religion and attitude to religion (believer / non-believer), although Islam allows the possibility of having four wives for a follower of Islam. The author’s hypothesis about the positive attitude and assessment of polygamy by the followers of Islam was not confirmed by the results of the study, what indicates an unwillingness to fully accept the precepts of Islam in the family and marriage sphere. In addition, the survey data show that the interviewed Dagestan population has a negative attitude to the decision of their own children to have a “second wife” and to be a “second wife” with different argumentation.