COOKING for a husband and taking care of his clothes isn’t good enough; a dutiful wife needs to keep her man “entertained” as well.
That’s the view of a spokeswoman for The Obedient Wife Club, which is being launched today in Malaysia with the aim of teaching women how to please their husbands better to prevent them from straying or misbehaving.
Maznah Taufik, who appears to have dipped into The Stepford Wives Club for inspiration, is quoted here:
We just want to ask all the wives to be obedient wives so that there will be fewer problems in our society. Obedient wife means they are trying to entertain their husbands, not only taking care of their food and clothes. They have to obey their husbands. That’s the way Islam also asks.
Maznah said it was also men’s responsibility to teach their wives to be obedient.
Some wives, they just want to get married for leisure but they don’t know the responsibility. To entertain their husbands is compulsory. If she doesn’t do this, the husband will look for another woman… and the house will break down.
Today’s launch near the capital Kuala Lumpur will include speeches and a show to demonstrate to women how to be good wives, Maznah said, adding that a similar club had been set up in Jordan last month.
Maznah is already involved in another controversial venture – the Ikhwan Polygamy Club, which was launched in 2009 to promote polygamy. Muslim men in Malaysia can take up to four wives.
She is herself in a polygamous marriage, as the second of her husband’s two wives.
In 2010, a study by a Muslim activist group found men in polygamous relationships find it difficult to meet the needs of all their wives and children, and that the result is often unhappy and cash-strapped families.
Update: Reaction against the club has been swift. According to this report, Malaysian women’s groups say the onus on keeping a family together is being unfairly placed on women. Said Women’s Aid Organisation head Ivy Josiah:
With obedience comes submission, which may lead to domestic violence and marital rape. We should really be forming equality in marriage clubs.
Women’s rights group EMPOWER insisted that the club was a step back for the progress of the equality movement. Its Executive Director Maria Chin Abdullah said:
We cannot go back to caveman days where the man pulls the woman by the hair and takes her to the cave to have his way. We must recognise that women contribute a lot more than just being a sex toy.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn and Bill Murray (for the update)
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
June 4th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Just when you think that women in Islamic countries are beginning to assert themselves at long last!
June 4th, 2011 at 10:30 am
“Surely God is supreme.”
Don’t call me Shirley.
June 4th, 2011 at 10:36 am
The statement that men are superior to women is the usual, “This is so because I tell you.” Looking at the antics of so many male fools it really isn’t very persuasive.
June 4th, 2011 at 10:38 am
What a ridiculous way to conduct your lives. Some people don’t need a ring through the nose to be led anywhere.
June 4th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Odd that so many of us have managed to have a long and happy marriage without these idiotic ideas. According to Maznah my relationship should have broken down years ago whereas it has now been going for almost twenty years.
June 4th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Instructions for Sura 4:34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3Eam5FX58
June 4th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Obedient Wife Club! That’s a bit OTT. I use a bamboo cane from the garden centre.
June 4th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Must b where i went wrong! What a load of 130lox
June 4th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Get them when they’re young and they’ll believe any shit that’s being spoon-fed to them. Where’s the challenge in a relationship if your partner doesn’t mind being used as a door-mat, unless you’re into SM, which religion basically is.
June 4th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Why don’t these muzzie misogynists come out and say what they really mean: women should be baby factories and unseen slaves. Muslim men have many wives so they can power breed the next batch.
June 4th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
How disgusting! I love that in their culture when things go right it is because of Men, but when things go wrong it is always the woman’s fault. Awful human beings.
June 4th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Women! Know your limits!
June 4th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Very good, Daz!
This story has been rumbling away in the background for some time now:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....s-campaign
June 5th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Har Davids; This is as far removed from actual S&M as boxing is from a mugging, or rape is from lovemaking.
BDSM play is based on consent; religion is based on coercion.
June 6th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
It is truly alarming that in this day and age, when we are seeing some improvement in female rights, that there are women who truly advocate being a mere chattel for their husbands.
Perhaps ‘male chauvinism’ is so entrenched in their lives that they are willing to accept blame for their husband’s misdeeds!
Guess this is another form of the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ when a female hostage taken by terrorists began to support the terrorists!
My question is what happens to accepting responsibility for our own actions?
By the way I am a male and not a feminist bra-burning female, but I feel it is an insult to us men to say that we so lack self-control!
It is especially insulting to a Muslim male, because every year during the holy month of Ramadan, he practices extreme self-control in thoughts, words and deeds and refrains from food, anger and sex. To say that such husbands are capable of running around to prostitutes just because the wife is ‘not in the mood’, is a most degrading insult to the husband!
PS: What happens if the husband is unable to satisfy the ‘obedient wife’? Is she expected to find some other man to satisfy her sexual urges?
(NOTE: This group of women also advocate polygamy! Recently another Malaysian reported that he is taking his new wife on a honeymoon, together with his other 3 wives! How is that for fairness and caring? This guy must be the poster-boy for the Obedient Wives Club members!)
June 7th, 2011 at 3:15 am
On the cable TV show “Sister Wives” that guy, a fundamentalist Mormon, has 4 wives also, he just didn’t bring 3 of them on his honeymoon with wife number 4. And this in 2011 in the US. All in the name of religion. When asked how he would feel about one of his wives having a lover or a 2nd husband he said he would feel disgusted at the thought of her sleeping with someone else. To his credit it must be said that wife number 4 is either a widow or divorcee with several children, so “used goods” is not a criteria. And his wives wear regular clothes and hold jobs.
June 7th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Like you mentioned in your post, I think the most important part about this is to recognize that the backlash against the club’s infuriating messages about women’s obedience. It is also appalling how the members link obedience to sin and say that their practices will curb prostitution and domestic abuse. It’s good to see that so many people feel negatively about the club; a century ago that probably wouldn’t have been the case, so we’ve come a long way. Not that we’re exactly progressive, even in North America or Europe.
I wanted to share this video on the Obedient Wives Club with you and your readers. I think you’ll appreciate how it analyzes news coverage from different sources to show various perspectives on the club and their thoughts about obedience to men as a prevention tool for domestic abuse. I hope you’ll considering embedding the video in your post.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/ma.....is-a-duty/
Thanks for posting! It’s great for people to talk about things like this club when the occasions arise.