National Interests Versus Women’s Rights: The Case of Polygamy Among the Bedouin Community in Israel

Marital interactions and experiences of women living in polygamy: An exploratory study

“…It is legally practiced in 850 societies worldwide (Hartung, 1982) and is accepted by a wide range of non-Western ethnic and religious groups, particularly in Africa and the Middle East (Gage-Brandon, 1992;Welch & Click, 1981). Within the Bedouin community in Israel, polygamy is the product of internal and state-endorsed patriarchy (Bolus, 2019).…”

Ontological Security, Trauma and Violence, and the Protection of Women: Polygamy Among Minority Communities

“…Although polygamy is permissible under certain interpretations of Islam and Judaism, Israel chose to limit religious autonomy over this marital practice and to prohibit and criminalize it under the Israeli Penal Law (Aburabia, 2011a). Despite the legal prohibition, over the years, the government has systematically failed to enforce the law, leading to the situation that over the past decade, 20-40% of Bedouin marriages in the Negev are believed to be polygamous (The Inter-Ministerial Report, 2018;Boulos, 2019). The consequences of this practice for the Arab minority in general and for the Bedouin community in particular are far-reaching.…”

“…Within these polygamous families, the husband will set up separate households, each with two to four wives. It is difficult to quote precise statistics regarding the number of polygamous marriages in this community, since to avoid criminal sanctions, most polygamous marriages are conducted in private religious ceremonies that are not registered in official records (Abu al-Asal, 2010;Boulos, 2019). There are, however, some data showing that over the past three decades, there has been a consistent number of polygamous marriages in the Bedouin society in Israel, irrespective of age, education, or socioeconomic status (Aburabia, 2017).…”

“…In parallel, data indicate that domestic violence is on the rise (Yazbak and Kozma, 2017;Allassad-Alhuzail, 2018). For decades, the Israel government has proactively supported traditional and tribal leaders and reinforced patriarchal institutions that foster submission and obedience as a means to lowering the costs of controlling the local population (Hasan, 2002;Boulos, 2019). In this respect, the status of Bedouin women is strongly affected by state policy.…”

“…Critics of the State's lack of enforcement of the law prohibiting polygamy have accused it of supporting harmful practices in a minority that suffers marginalization and discrimination and hence of abusing the rights of minority women, while proponents of the State's policy have defended it in the name of multiculturalism, cultural autonomy, and the protection of minority rights. Others have argued that Israel's failure to implement the prohibition derives from political considerations and the desire to coopt the dominant conservative Bedouin leaders (Boulos, 2019).…”