The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
In Asia, when it comes to openness, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is Japan and South Korea. Japan's custom industry, including its derivative film and television industry, has a certain reputation all over the world. As for South Korea, their mother, the Han River, is said to have been changed in color by aphrodisiacs. [Dog's Head]
But no matter how famous the customs of these two countries are, they still do not reach the point where polygamy is allowed. After all, the vast majority of countries in Asia support gender equality and monogamy, and enshrine it in law.
But not only is this country located in Asia, but it was once influenced by the culture of the continent, but men in their country can still marry several wives. They even send their wives or daughters abroad to work as maids, and they are famous all over the world. So what country is it, and why are women in this country allowed to send abroad in large numbers?
01
Polygamy
The first is the special system of this country, many people may have heard of the name of the country of the Philippines, but know almost no about this country.
After the end of World War II, the people of the mainland did not receive much news about the Philippines. However, in the fifties and sixties of the last century, the Philippines had a large amount of aid from the United States and undertook some industrial transfers from the United States, resulting in its economic development at that time second only to Japan, which accounted for more than 70% of the GDP of the United States.
At that time, although the economy was developing, the Philippines did not attach as much importance to education as the Asian Tigers. Therefore, there is no follow-up talent here to contribute to the sustainable development of the Philippines, which has become the end of the Philippine economy. At the same time, because most of the men went to the battlefield during World War II, the ratio of men and women in this group was imbalanced, with more women than men.
Moreover, there are also Muslims in the local area, and their traditional culture is that they can marry multiple wives. Therefore, the Philippines also retained this tradition for the Muslims at that time, that is, the Muslim people could marry 4 wives.
However, whether it is a Muslim nation in the Philippines or other Muslim countries, although they can marry multiple wives, only one can obtain a certificate. If you marry too much, the government generally won't care. After all, in this nation that is influenced by patriarchal ideology, the economic conditions are not good, and the medical technology will naturally not be high. Therefore, the government also supports them to marry wives and have children, which is also a country's demographic dividend.
But in the Philippines, it's not that you can marry casually if you say you want to marry more, because marriage is a matter of two people after all, and you also have to see whether the other woman agrees. Because one of the most critical points in marrying a girl into the family is that you have to be able to afford to support others. And the more wives you marry, the more tense the allocation of resources will be.
Coupled with the bride price and other conditions, not just anyone can be so rich. Not all women married to Muslim men can endure poverty. However, according to the laws of the Philippines and the customs of the Muslim people, every wife who comes in has the same rights and social status. There is no such thing as a big or small wife, and everyone's family status is the same.
However, if someone thinks that if they can marry multiple wives like them when they come to the Philippines, I would advise you to give up this idea. Because in the Philippines, not everyone can have this right. This privilege must be enjoyed by the Muslim ethnic group in the Philippines. In other words, other ethnic groups in the Philippines also maintain a monogamous system.
02
Divorce is prohibited
And because the main faith of other peoples is Catholicism, and Catholicism believes that the meeting and marriage of two people are arranged by God because of doctrinal reasons, divorce is not allowed here.
Because if you divorce, it not only represents your unfaithfulness to your partner, but also represents that you are not satisfied with God's arrangement, which is not acceptable in their faith.
Therefore, the people of the Philippines are also cautious about marriage, and they often make this decision after a very long period of contact in order to see if the other party is the person arranged by God for them. Because of this, once both parties get married, there is absolutely no way to divorce.
And this has led to a situation where since divorce is not possible, some men will bring the pressure they have experienced outside home with them. Maybe when they got married, the relationship between the two people was still like glue, but after a long period of contact, the husband and wife have long lost the passion they had at the beginning.
And if one party in life is too stressed, especially if men are naturally more physical than women, some domestic violence incidents may occur. And because the local law does not allow divorce, this makes these domestic violence people even more unscrupulous.
However, although divorce is prohibited on the surface, in fact, it is not really impossible to divorce in the Philippines, but the conditions required for divorce are too strict. In addition to a series of extremely complex processes, there must also be a hard indicator that one of the parties to the marriage must prove that one of the parties to the marriage has a psychological problem before applying for the dissolution of the marriage.
But the definition of psychological problems, because the current science and medicine are not yet advanced enough to explain mental illness. So there is a lot of room for operability, if one party does not want to divorce, then a lot of evidence can be found to prove that the other party has no psychological problems, then they cannot get a divorce.
Moreover, the price of divorce is not cheap, and the complicated procedures will take up a lot of their time, coupled with the high amount, which also makes divorce a price that most families cannot afford.
03
Maid industry
Moreover, this country is a patriarchal country, coupled with the country's economic recession, so the jobs in the society are basically distributed to a limited number of men, and the vast majority of women are actually unable to find jobs in their home countries. In this case, many families will sell their wives or daughters.
And because the gap between the rich and the poor is too large, coupled with the lack of employment opportunities, many women will choose to work abroad in order to avoid the fate of being sold. After all, the United States has a large demand for the service industry, and wages in many countries are much higher than those in their own countries.
In addition, it is difficult for women to receive higher education in the local area, so they can only choose some service industries. And the work of domestic servants, which can provide food and housing, is especially suitable for people like them who go to work abroad.
Due to the hardships and hard work, coupled with the large number of women who choose this type of work, the fame of Filipino maids quickly became famous internationally. In order to maintain this brand image, a number of intermediaries have also been born in the Philippines. However, they also train local women as professional maids, and then send these professional maids to work in countries around the world.
Resources:
[1] China News Network - 2019.04.28 "Former Philippine President Estrada: "The Belt and Road" Brings Many Development Opportunities to the Philippines
[2] Global Network - "Divorce is prohibited, Filipino couples can only engage in separation if they are not in harmony"
[3] Beijing News - 2024.05.07 "Sending millions of nannies to the world, how can the Philippines become a nanny empire? 》