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Long-Distance Divorce: For Migrant Tajiks, It's As Simple as a Text

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Sarah Standish
Topics: Globalization, Migration, Technology and the Internet, Women
Countries: Malaysia, Tajikistan
Cell phones are touching the lives of Tajikistani women in many ways. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdixon/2530899888/">Kate B Dixon (flickr)</a>
Cell phones are touching the lives of Tajikistani women in many ways. Photo: Kate B Dixon (flickr)

Technology, migrant labor, and patriarchy: three world systems that bring benefits to some have become a tragic combination for the Tajik women whose husbands are divorcing them remotely via text message, reports Radio Free Europe.

Tajikistan's struggling economy means that as many as one in seven Tajiks works abroad, often spending most of the year away. The country is also heavily dependent on the remittances that constitute half of its GDP. If migrant men decide to divorce their wives back home, some do so via cell phone by texting the word "talaaq," Arabic for "divorce." In Sunni Islam, saying the word three times is a recognized way for men to end their marriages.

Migrant Tajiks are largely beyond the reach of their country's laws. Neither text messages nor "talaaq" are legal methods of divorce there (unlike in other countries like Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, where courts have sanctioned the combination), but courts can't enforce this or other divorce proceedings — like alimony payments — on an absent husband.

These Tajik women are often left without homes or means of support when their marriages end. Respite may only come when they are fully integrated into the legal system — to match their immersion in the technology that has already deeply touched their lives.

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Keywords: migrant workers, Saudi Arabia, texting, divorce, cell phones

Comments

Thu, 12/10/2009 - 16:06 — Ian Goldsmith in Portland, OR

Cowardly

The only word that comes to mind after reading about this is cowardice. It is one thing to decide on getting a divorce, which is so commonplace that it seems to warrant just a shrug. But to ask for (demand) divorce with a text? That is simply gutless and shows a total lack of respect.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 15:05 — Sarah Standish in Portland, Oregon

Yes

I couldn't agree more.

Wed, 03/31/2010 - 07:13 — Rachel (not verified) in London, UK

terrible way to behave...

I was so angry after reading this post I simply had to comment. What a despicable way to treat anyone - divorce is a terrible process to go through and should be approached with decency and care.

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