“Serve husbands like first-class prostitutes,” Malaysian women’s group says

A group that urges wives to "serve their husbands better than a first-class prostitute" in order to avoid marital problems has reportedly angered politicians and women's rights groups in Malaysia.

The Obedient Wives Club, set up by a group of Muslim women and launched Saturday, holds that domestic violence, infidelity and prostitution stem from a lack of belief in God and a failure of women to satisfy their husbands, the New Straits Times reported Sunday.

Club vice-president Rohaya Mohamed said it was open to women of all religions and would give lessons on how to be a good wife — stretching beyond the traditional "good mother or good cook" roles — and offer marriage counseling.

“A good or religious wife should also be good in bed,” she told reporters after the launch of the club's Malaysian chapter at a golf club.

She said a husband who was kept happy in the bedroom would have no reason to stray, seek out prostitutes or indulge in other social vices.

"A man married to a woman who is as good or better than a prostitute in bed has no reason to stray. Rather than allowing him to sin, a woman must do all she can to ensure his desires are met," Rohaya told the newspaper.

The club, founded by a fringe Islamic group known as Global Ikhwan, which previously set up a Polygamy Club, has been dismissed by politicians and activists as a throwback to Medieval times and an insult to the modern women of Malaysia, the AP reports.

Females outnumber males in Malaysian higher education institutions, comprising 65 percent of the intake at public universities last year, Reuters reports, citing government data.

Rights groups, however, say women are still victims of gender bias.

"Abusive men often use women's behavior as a sick justification, but in the end, their actions are their responsibility," Ratna Osman, acting executive director at rights group Sisters-in-Islam told Reuters.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Jalil reportedly said: "To hinge fidelity, domestic violence and the fulfillment of a husband's responsibilities purely on a wife's capacity to be obedient, stimulate sexual arousal … is not only demeaning to wives, but to husbands as well."