Yemen Shegar or 'Swap Marriages'

[CogitOIOIO]

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sxv2h

I caught this on the radio when I was driving somewhere and I think I had a perpetual look on my face throughout the broadcast. The set-up is that a brother and sister from one family arrange to marry a brother and sister from the other. BUT... and here's the toe-curling part... if either one of the marriages doesn't work out, the other one is declared over. Which means, in Yemen culture, dismissing the 'spare' and sending her back to her family but keeping her kids!

Anyone else hear it?

Yes I heard it. Jaw dropping. But this the Yeman. Savages. Look at their child bride record. Shocking.

I work in the ME and in some places they have a different approach to Marriage due to the multiple wife scenario.

I heard this and it was heart-breaking. The brother's marriage didn't work out, so the sister was sent home to her parents despite the fact that her marriage was a very happy one. She wasn't allowed to take her children even though she was still breast-feeding her 7-month-old, and wasn't even allowed to see them for a couple of years. Awful.

I was a bit though at the BBC reporter, who seemed surprised that her interviewee was so upset after being asked to recount this harrowing story. What else did she expect?!

There is now an international organisation promoting women's rights.