The problems of bad marriages and unemployment call for unconventional solutions. And a number of divorced women are seeking unemployed men as husbands. It is a perfectly legal marriage contract with the exception that the woman retains the right to ask for divorce at any point in the marriage.
Prior to the marriage, the future wife-employer states the marriage conditions and how much the monthly salary for the husband-to-be-employed will be. This may sound funny, but to men and women who opt for this kind of solution to their individual problems, it is a very serious matter.
Raghda, a divorcee who recently remarried or hired her husband, says that it is a perfect solution for her. "I suffered a lot in my first marriage," she said. "After my divorce I made up my mind that I would never marry again until one day a close friend of mine told me about this solution. She told me that many divorced women were opting for it. I was reluctant at first but then I thought about the benefits, this way I am in control, and I get a helpful legal guardian."
"My brother used to harass me whenever I needed his permission, and he would delay my work for months at a time, but now my husband promptly does my work," Raghda told Arab News.
Majid, who chose to be a hired-husband, says he met his wife in a taxi of which he was the driver. "After graduation, I couldn't find a job, so my father helped me out with a taxi... It was hard and I was barely making SR2,000 a month, and I wasn't able to save any money to marry." Majid says his wife, at the time, offered him a lucrative salary - SR6,000 per month - for being her husband. "She said that she would pay for all my expenses, and even if I wanted to pursue my higher education, she would fund it. I thought, why not?"
Majid says his wife is 14 years older than he and that she even promised to marry him to a second younger wife if he desired after five years of marriage to her.
These marriages may seem all right but they can easily backfire. As in the case of Reem. "I married the man and paid all his expenses. I even used to pay his relatives' expenses, and whenever they needed anything, it was my pocket that my husband reached into," she said.
"I had already been divorced once, and my family barely agreed to let me remarry. I hid the exact nature of my marriage from them. My husband knew this so he blackmailed me. He told me if I forced him to divorce me, he would tell my father and brothers that I was an indecent woman and other awful lies," Reem lamented.
