Editing Wife (section)

===Asia cultures===

====Hinduism====
[[File:Taikō gosai rakutō yūkan no zu.jpg|thumb|16th-century [[Samurai]] [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] sitting with his wives and concubines.]]
In [[Indo-Aryan languages]], a wife is known as ''Patni'', which means a woman who shares everything in this world with her husband and he does the same, including their identity. Decisions are ideally made in mutual consent. A wife usually takes care of anything inside her household, including the family's health, the children's education, a parent's needs.

The majority of Hindu marriages in rural and traditional India are arranged marriages. Once they find a suitable family (family of same caste, culture and financial status), the boy and the girl see and talk to each other to decide the outcome. In recent times however the western culture has had significant influence and the new generations are more open to the idea of marrying for love.

Indian law has recognized rape, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse of a woman by her husband as crimes. 
In [[Hinduism]], a wife is known as a ''Patni'' or ''Ardhangini'' (similar to "the better half") meaning a part of the husband or his family. In Hinduism, a woman or man can get married, but only have one husband or wife respectively.

In India, women may wear vermilion powder on their foreheads, an ornament called Mangalsutra ({{langx|hi|मंगलसूत्र}}) which is a form of necklace, or rings on their toes (which are not worn by single women) to show their status as married women.

====Buddhism and Chinese folk religions====
[[China]]'s family laws were changed by the [[Communist]] revolution; and in 1950, the [[People's Republic of China]] enacted a comprehensive marriage law including provisions giving the spouses equal rights with regard to ownership and management of marital property.<ref>Britannica 2004, ''Legal limitations on marriage (from family law)''</ref>

====Japan====
In [[Japan]], before enactment of the [[Meiji Constitution|Meiji]] Civil Code of 1898, all of the woman's property such as land or money passed to her husband except for personal clothing and a mirror stand.<ref name="ReferenceA">Britannica, ''Legal limitations on marriage (from family law)''</ref> See [[Women in Japan]], [[Law of Japan]]