SHORTAGE OF WIVES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19768, 16 February 1927, Page 5

SHORTAGE OF WIVES

WOMEN OF TURKESTAN SHARP RISE IN PRICE. With the men of Turkestan outnumbering the women three to one, polygamy is fast disappearing and men who once had as many as nine wives are now having a hard time geting one, reports a traveller from Samarkand. The Soviet census, just completed, shows the great disproportion of men to women in Turkestan. Indeed, there is a virtual scarcity of women, especially those of marriageable age, which the local officials believe can only be met by the importation of women from other sections of the Soviet Union. Turkestan’s 10,000,000 population decreased last year nearly 20 per cent, because of a sharp decline in the number of marriages and in the birthrate. The consequence of this is that the price of women and girls of marriage able age has increased from 500 to 5,000 rubles, which is quite beyond the reach of tho poor man. Polygamy, which formerly was the rule throughout Turkestan, is fast disappearing. Before the Bolshevist revolution, rich land owners boasted up to nine consorts, while tho deposed Emir of Bokhara had 300 wives. Nov.* the native Mohammedan has difficulty in purchasing and maintaining uxie wife. An old Uzbeg, who made a living by begging, told tho correspondent that twenty-five years of labour before tho revolution enabled him to buy a wife, but after abiding six months with him she fled herself to a wealthier Moslem. Because of tho shortage of women, Turcomans, Uzbegs, Tadshiks and other Moslem natives are marrying Russian and Christian women, who, unlike their Mohammedan sisters, demand no dowry or fee for themselves. Such marriages previously were unknown in Turkestan. By reason of the great demand for them as wives, the women of Turkestan enjoy a privileged position unknown in any other country in the world. Their husbands do all tho housework, cooking, washing, ironing and marketing and generally show their spouses the utmost deference.