A Swedish woman who works as a helper for asylum seekers defended the practice of polygamy among Islamic asylum seekers saying it would be nice if her Swedish husband took on another wife to help around the house.
The woman appeared in a documentary series entitled “Allah in Europe” made by the publicly funded Dutch Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Corporation (VPRO) which was examining the integration of asylum seekers in Sweden. The film crew were introduced to an asylum seeker with two wives and over half a dozen children when the Swedish woman began to comment on how great she thought polygamy was.
“What I’ve learned after my years of working with people from different countries is that you have to be very respectful towards different cultures. Because in all cultures there is something better than one’s own culture,” the asylum helper said.
“In the tradition they come from, the woman has to do a lot. They have to serve the man. And it is very difficult. If you have more children you have to wash, cook, and shop. So there are actually women who tell their men to get a second wife,” she added.
“I can feel like that. I am married to one man,” she said and when asked by the Dutch journalist if she would approve of her husband taking another wife she said: “Yeah absolutely! Or we could have a third adult in the family to ease the burden.”
After speaking briefly with the Syrian man with the two wives the Dutch journalist commented: “I feel that an enrichment of the Swedish culture is taking place here.”
When the interviewer attempted to ask one of the wives what she thought about her husband marrying another woman she said: “Whatever I say, he does what he wants. Of course, I have no choice.”
“She cannot say anything. That’s his choice. He can marry on his own, he says nothing to her. She has nothing to say about it,” an interpreter added.
Polygamous marriages in Europe have exploded due to a large number of Muslim migrants entering the continent from the Middle East and Africa. The issue has become so great that in Italy a Muslim leader advocated legalising the practice arguing that if gay marriage is a right then so, too, is polygamy.
In the UK, Baroness Cox has claimed that polygamous marriages are thriving in the country and that as a result, many Muslim men are having upwards of 20 children each.
Last year, a Muslim man in Sunderland went as far as setting up a “polygamy dating” website for Muslims claiming that polygamous marriages were “in man’s nature”.
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