In Saudi Arabia, there are more than 1.5 million spinsters, women that missed the optimum age of marriage. This is a serious social problem, and one that should be addressed.
According to the latest census, women slightly outnumber men. And out of the population of the fairer gender, 18.5 percent are unmarried. For their part, men are increasingly taking long and short vacations abroad without their families.
In my opinion, the number of older unmarried women will increase in the near future. Divorce, too, is increasing, contributing to the growing number of single women.
According to the government, the rate of divorce increased by 20 percent in 2003 alone. Men, too, are increasingly waiting to get married. These trends do not bode well for social development in the context of families.
Still, we tend to ignore these issues, choosing instead to focus on more superficial things, like the stock market. I suggest that planners, social scientists and matchmakers get together to hammer out a plan to address the problem of the growing number of single women.
All wives in the Kingdom — except my wife — should allow their husbands to marry a second, third or fourth wife if they are financially capable of doing so. They should be allowed (except for me) to have at least a second wife.
I call on wives (but not mine) to help their men resolve this spinster problem. If these women allow their husbands to have a second wife, it would do a lot to solve the problem. I call on these women to allow their husbands to do something permitted by Islam. Having a second wife is not cheating.
I know I will face a severe feminist attack, but what can I say? Right or wrong, this is my opinion — if not my wife’s.
