The article deals with the practice of divorce among Bashkirs initiated by their wives in the second half of the XIX — early XX c. It focuses on the causes of divorce. The wife could demand a divorce under the following circumstances: her husband’s poverty, incomplete payment of kalym, ill-treatment, his exile to hard labor or exile to Siberia with the deprivation of
all rights to the state, unknown absence for more than 5 years, death while serving in the army, inability to execute marital duties etc. All these cases were quite common in practice. For the first time, a description of a divorce by subscription (tagallik) of certain conditions by the husband is given. Tagallik was prepared by a mullah and recorded in the metric book,
signed by her husband. A breach of the conditions of tagallik could lead to the demand to divorce. However, the official statistics divorces by tagallik is not reflected. Statistics on divorce were compiled for the Ufa province by religion for the 1860—1880s. They show that divorces initiated by the wife (hlyug) were 3—4 times more common than divorces at the request
of the husband (talak). Common divorce rates, as well as numerous petitions deposited in the archive, indicate a significant prevalence of divorce, and the protection of their rights in this matter by Bashkir women. read in PDF>>>
