Kuwait City: A Kuwaiti MP proposed yesterday state-aid for male citizens to take second wives, in a bid to reduce the large number of unmarried women in the country.

"The proposal aims at solving the problem of unmarried women, which is a problem facing our society, and encourages widows and divorced men and women to form new families," independent Shiite MP Faisal Al Duwaisan said.

Generous

The Gulf state already grants Kuwaiti men who wed a female citizen for the first time a "marriage aid" of 4,000 dinars (Dh50,905).

But Al Duwaisan wants the government to grant an additional aid package for men to take second wives, provided certain conditions are met.

The prospective grooms must obtain written permission from their existing wives to marry again, or they must be widowed or divorced.

The women they marry must be widows, divorced or at least 40 years of age and never married, Al Duwaisan said in his proposal.