Dagestan: fake pregnancy case raises problem of women's rights violation

In Northern Caucasus, women are forced into the role of a sort of "children-producing bag"; and the act of a Dagestani woman who invented a story about the death of her twins during childbirth could have been the result of psychological pressure, Saida Sirazhudinova, the head of the "Caucasus. Peace. Development" Centre, said in an interview with the "Lenta".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February, in Dagestan, a video caused a broad resonance, in which a man said that he had buried the twins who died after his wife childbirth, but while unfolding the burial covers, he found dolls there. The Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) began checking this information; and on February 11, it posted a video with the man's wife, who confessed to inventing the story of her fake pregnancy and the death of twins after childbirth.

The woman's act may be the result of psychological pressure on women widespread in the republics of Northern Caucasus, Ms Sirazhudinova has suggested.

"In the Caucasus, a woman is perceived as some vessel for the production of children. Women themselves admit this situation; and some treat themselves as a 'child-producing bag.' A woman gives birth to her children, and further has no special relation to them, except for the upbringing function. Children are father's property < ...>. Dagestan is notable for the fact that marriages are rarely concluded for love – in many cases it is either a contractual marriage, or an intra-family one, when parents pick up a girl for a guy. He needs her exclusively for reproductive purposes," Saida Sirazhudinova has concluded, reminding that a case similar to the above one already happened in Dagestan in 2015.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 16, 2021 at 09:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.