News that will surprise no one – bigamy is the greatest cause of breaking up families in the UAE. Yes – surprise surprise – Emirati women aren’t thrilled with inequal laws that allow men to have second, third and fourth families, but women only one:

Of all the divorces that take place in the national community, 31.9 per cent is on account of men’s bigamy, says a study published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs magazine.

Of all the marriages registered in the UAE by nationals, 28 per cent happen between UAE national men and foreign women, and most of these are second marriages, provoking the first wife to seek divorce, the study reveals.

Polygamy is an essentially backwards custom that may have served a purpose in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, but now is essentially an anachronism. Even the prophet Mohammed wisely tried to curtail it, limiting men to only four wives.

In these more enlightened times with equal numbers of men and women in the world (and less women in certain countries) it should be banned.