Yes, a man is required under Islamic law to provide financial support for his wives.
However, under the same laws, a man can become divorced by simply saying “I divorce you”.
So much for a sense of certitude and security for the woman.
And under Islamic law, a woman who has been pronounced “divorced” from her husband may not, in fact, be considered reciprocally divorced from him.
And can spend years of her life begging courts and judges to set her free while the husband himself has freely moved on to other marriage(s) and endeavors.
Using a word such as “polygamy” is distancing from the nuts and bolts of the situation. The facts are, were and remain that a (always lesser) woman is treated hugely unequally under shari’a law, in marriage and divorce, in inheritance, in rights to her children, in the weight of her judgment in testimony…and so on.
And this is no accident.
