Polygyny

A world map showing countries by polygyny prevalence, 2010.

Template:Legal recognition of polygamy Polygyny (from neo-Greek: πολύ poly - "many", and γυνή gyny - "woman or wife") is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist. It is distinguished from relationships where a man has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, cohabits with a married woman or other culturally but not legally recognized secondary partner. Polygyny is the most common form of polygamy; the much rarer practice of polyandry is the form of marriage in which one woman has two or more husbands at the same time.

History

Polygyny has been practiced in some cultures throughout history. It was partially accepted in ancient Hebrew society, in classical China, and in sporadic traditional Native American, African and Polynesian cultures. In India it was known to have been practiced during ancient times. It was accepted in ancient Greece, until the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church when having one wife, but multiple lovers became the norm. It was accepted in Sub-Saharan Africa for most of the past two millennia.

In the Hebrew Bible, polygyny was a permitted practice (and required in the case of a levirate marriage) whilst polyandry (a woman having more than one husband) was seen as adultery.

In the United States, polygyny or "plural marriage" was allowed in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It ended in 1890 under the president of the LDS Church at the time, Wilford Woodruff. Officially since 1899, members of the LDS Church faced excommunication for being polygynous. There are several sects who separated themselves from LDS Church, and who have no ties nor relationship to the LDS Church that continue to practice polygyny despite polygynous marriage being illegal in the United States.

In historical China a child was considered to have more than one mother. For example, a child might have up to four mothers, the first wife being the "official mother" (嫡母 dímǔ) – in spoken language called "big mother" (大媽 dàmā) – the others being regarded as unofficial mothers (庶母 shùmǔ), in spoken language called "little mother" (小媽 xiǎomā) or "aunt" (阿姨 āyí, 姨娘 yíniáng). However, this custom was primarily a result of the concubinage system, where only the first wife by marriage was considered the wife and the mistress of the household. A concubine did not marry her owner. Her main duty was to provide a son to her owner, and any children from the liaison were not regarded as officially hers. But she was also brought into the household to provide sexual pleasure to the man and servitude to his wife.

In polygynous marriages generally, usually one wife is the “queen wife” who is accorded a higher status than the other wives and has some authority over the other wives.

Motivations

There is also some research that show that males living in polygynous marriages live longer; 12 percent longer on average.

Women have been more likely than men to be left unmarried or widowed. One current viable reason is that throughout human history males have always had a higher mortality rate. Polygyny ensured that such women were cared for and also helped ensure the births of the large numbers of children required for the survival of pre-mechanized, largely agrarian cultures in which early mortality rates were high.

The required inheritance of widows requires men in some societies to marry the widow of a deceased brother. This levirate marriage helps provide support for her and increases his number of wives.

A higher prevalence of infectious disease is associated with polygyny which may be due to a higher prevalence of infectious diseases making selecting males with a high genetic resistance increasingly important. Another explanation is that polygny may be due to a lower male:female ratio in these areas but this may ultimately be due to male infants having increased mortality from infectious diseases.

The Economics of Polygyny

Polygyny is widespread and nobody seems to doubt that its occurrence is closely related to economic conditions. A report by the secretariat of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) affirms this point: one of the strongest appeals of polygyny to men in Africa is precisely its economic aspect, for a man with several wives commands more land, can produce more food for his household and can achieve a high status due to the wealth which he can command. Over much of the continent of Africa, tribal rules of land tenure are still in force. This implies that members of a tribe, which commands a certain territory, have a native right to take land under cultivation for food production and in many cases also for the cultivation of cash crops under this tenure system, an additional wife is an additional economic asset, which helps the family to expand its production. In regions of shifting cultivation, where women do all or most of the work of growing food crops, the task of felling the trees in preparation of new plots is usually done by older boys and very young men, as already mentioned. An elderly cultivator with several wives is likely to have a number of such boys who can be used for this purpose. By the combined efforts of young sons and young wives he may gradually expand his cultivation and become more and more prosperous, while a man with a single wife has less help in cultivation and is likely to have little or no help for felling. Hence there is a direct correlation between the size of the area cultivated by a family and the number of wives in the family. For instance in the Bwambe region of Uganda, in east Africa, it appeared form a sample study that men with one wife cultivated an average of 1.67 acres of land and a man with two wives cultivated 2.94 acres of land, or nearly twice as much. This is in female farming communities; a man with more than one wife can cultivate more land that a man with only one wife. Hence the institution of polygyny is a significant element in the process of economic development in regions where additional land is available for cultivation under the long fallow system. A study of the Mende in the west African state of Sierra Leone concluded that a plurality of wives is an agriculture asset, since a large number of women makes it unnecessary to employ wage laborers. The study is 30 years old and the incidence of polygamy has declined since then. But although households with large numbers of wives seem to have more or less disappeared in most of Africa, polygyny is still extremely widespread and is considered and economic advantage in many rural areas. In some cases, the economic role of the additional wife enables the husband to enjoy more leisure. The desire for numerous progeny is no doubt the main incentive. Where both desire for children and the economic considerations are at work. The incentives for polygyny are likely to be so powerful that religious or legal prohibition avails little here. Most research into the determinates of polygyny has focused on macro level factors. Widespread polygyny is linked to the kinship groups that share decent from a common ancestor. . Polygynous marriages may serve the interests of and benefit both men and women under diverse circumstances. Polygyny also served as “a dynamic principle of family survival, growth, security, continuity, and prestige” especially as a socially approved mechanism, which increases the number of adult workers immediately and the eventual workforce of resident children In a family system where wives are supposed both provide food for the family or a large part of it and to perform the usual domestic duties for the husband, a wife will naturally welcome one or more co-wives to share with them the burden of daily work. The second wife will usually do the most tiresome work because the first wife does not want to do it. The second wife will almost be a servant to the first wife she is inferior to the first wife.

Economic Burden

Polygamy offers fewer incentives in those parts of the world where because they are more densely populated than Africa, the system of shifting cultivation has been replaced by the permanent cultivation of fields ploughed before sowing. But in farming systems where men do most of the agriculture work a second wife can be an economic burden rather than an asset. In order to feed an additional wife the husband must either work harder himself of he must hire laborers to do part of the work. In such regions, polygyny is either non-existent or is a luxury in which only a small minority of rich farmers can indulge.

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Figure 1. Frequency of Marriage Types Across Cultures from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample of pre-industrial societies (Murdock & White 1969)

Women in Polygyny

Polygyny is generally studied by anthropologists rather than by sociologists. Thus, nearly all studies of African polygyny have treated it as a traditional form of marriage inevitably destined to disappear under the pressures of urbanization, wage employment, Christianity and general "modernization" it would appear that no African woman has written in praise of polygyny, although some have accepted it as a lesser evil given the probable alternative of statusless concubinage. The issue of women's perceptions of polygyny has been gravely neglected. The decline in polygynous marriages is apparent in all age groups of women. Implying that the downward trend in the overall level of polygyny was not merely a result of changes in the age distribution of women. Another important outcome observed the inverse relationship between the education level and the rate of polygyny. The proportion of women in polygynous unions decreased from 33% for women with no education to 11% for women with at least some secondary education. Polygyny is less prevalent in societies where more women are literate .This demonstrates that higher levels of female education have a depressing effect on polygyny. Generally women with higher levels of education are less likely to accept being in polygynous unions because they perceive such relationships as being incompatible with their aspirations. Increasing women’s economic independence by enhancing their chances of participating in the formal labor market is one of the fundamental dimensions through which women’s higher levels of education effect societal changes in polygynous marriages. Interviews conducted with some of the Logoli Tribe in Kenya suggested they were scared of polygynous marriages because of what they have witnessed in the lives of other women who are currently in such relationships. The observed experiences of some of the women in polygynous unions have been discouraging because they tend to be characterized by frequent jealousy, conflicts competition, tensions and psychological stresses. Some of the husbands fail to share love and other resources equally, envy and hatred, and even violent physical confrontations become the order of the day among co-wives and their children. This discourages women from entering a polygynous marriage. The Expression of university educated and financially stable women illustrate that todays women are more ready to defend their rights to equal treatment, Even those in polygynous unions, do not necessarily obey the first wife, even if she is twice her age. Some of the well educated women find it ridiculous that even today, with the demise of traditional normative systems and sanctions, men can boast about the number of women they have slept with, but they expect their wives to uphold the old values of fidelity. Men are therefore gradually replacing polygyny with careful management of extramarital affairs. The fact that polygyny facilitates the spread of venereal diseases has been pointed out in a number of studies. Among the Logoli of Kenya, the fear of AIDS or becoming infected with the HIV virus has awakened women’s sensitivity to polygynous marriages. Women who are against polygynous marriages argued that polygyny places individuals at risk for contracting various sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. An infected individual who is in a polygynous marriage can either willingly and knowingly or unwillingly and unknowingly communicate such diseases to other spouses in the same union. Co-wives may not be equally faithful to the husband and even the husband may not confine himself sexually to his wives and the wives have been known to constantly blame the other co-wives. .

Feminists Perspective

Some Western (feminist)critics of African polygamy (polygyny) tend to condemn the institution of interventive polygamy outright. Such critics appear to entertain the general assumption that under such a system childless and sonless women suffer psychological and physical violence in African society especially in rural settings. The victims, such foreign critics point out, are often dispossessed of their material belongings, accused of witchcraft, and isolated from the children of the community due to suspicion that they are dangerous to children! The same critics, also, often go to the extent of concluding that "Interventive Polygamy" serves several purposes one of which appears to be a therapy to keep African women in a state of permanent insecurity in their marriages and seems to serve to control a difficult wife and used to spur women in into competitive relationships with one another.

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible indicates that polygyny was practiced in ancient Israelite societies. Though the institution was not extremely common, it was not particularly unusual, and was certainly not prohibited. On occasion polygamy was even obligatory (see Levirate marriage). It was on occasion also discouraged by the Bible [namely the Mosaic Law commands that kings should not have many wives (Deut. 17:17). When Solomon took 1000 wives and concubines, the Bible cites his polygamy as the reason of the fall of his faith, and for his kingdom being torn in two after his death (1 Kings 11:1-12)]. The Bible mentions approximately forty polygynists, including Abraham, Jacob, Esau, David and King Solomon, with little or no further remark on the institution.

The Torah, the Five Books of Moses; Genesis-Deuteronomy, includes specific regulations on the practice of polygyny. Exodus 21:10 states that multiple marriages are not to diminish the status of the first wife, while Deuteronomy 21:15–17 states that a man must award the inheritance due to a first-born son to the son who was actually born first, even if he hates that son's mother and likes another wife more (implying that he had divorced the first-born son's mother); and Deuteronomy 17:17 states that the king shall not have too many wives.

The biblical institution of a levirate marriage was a form of polygyny. Deuteronomy 25:5–10 required a man to marry and support his deceased brother's widow, if he died without her having given birth to a son. The practice has been justified in that it was important for the deceased brother to have an heir to inherit his lands, and to say the prayers for the dead for him. The practice was also a means to ensure that the widow was provided for. If the eldest brother refused to marry the widow then it was the responsibility of the next brother and so on down the family line. However, also prescribed in these same verses, was a method of absolving the man from such marriage if he did not want to marry the woman. This method including him being publicly shamed to the degree of his face being spit upon.

Rabbi Chaim Gruber speculates that the underlying reason why the Torah allows a man more than one wife at a time, while a woman is permitted only one husband at a time, is biological.: No one could argue that a man has the ability to simultaneously father children with more than one woman. However, a woman does not become simultaneously pregnant from more than one man (except under a very rare circumstance called heteropaternal superfecundation. This is when a woman ovulated two eggs so to be able to conceive fraternal twins, and then had sex with two different men in a short period of time, and then happened to have each egg fertilized by a different one of these men.). Therefore, as “marriage,” in strict or broad sense, means a joining together, as the genes of a man can simultaneously be joined together with the genes of multiple women via different conceptions, a man, Rabbi Gruber states, can be married to more than one woman at once. A woman, however, is not naturally so joined to more than one man at a time. This considered, the rabbi speculates that the intent of the allowance of polygyny is “not to say that monogamous marriage isn’t ideal,” but rather to create a social structure inclusive of this natural phenomenon; “…as a man may be linked to several women at once, it is better to consider these multiple relationships legit, than to criminalize them and put them outside the bounds of normality. Doing so would wrongly shame many as ‘living in sin,’ and also unjustly condemn countless kids as ‘bastards’.”

Judaism

Polygyny continued to be practiced well into the biblical period, and it is attested among Jews as late as the second century CE.

— Michael Coogan, God and Sex. What the Bible Really Says.

Since the 11th century, Ashkenazi Jews have followed Rabbenu Gershom's ban on polygyny (except in rare circumstances).

Some Mizrahi Jewish communities (particularly Yemenite Jews and Persian Jews) discontinued polygyny much more recently, as they immigrated to countries where it was forbidden or illegal. Such is the case in the State of Israel, which has made polygamy illegal. In practice, however, the law is only loosely enforced, primarily so as not to interfere with Bedouin culture, where polygyny is practiced. Pre-existing polygynous unions among Jews from Arab countries (or other countries where the practice was not prohibited by their tradition and was not illegal in the local law) are also not subject to this Israeli law, although a similar cultural concession to the Bedouin is not extended to Mizrahi Jews, and they are not permitted to enter into new polygamous marriages in Israel.

Among Karaite Jews, who do not adhere to Rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, polygyny is non-existent today. Karaites interpret Leviticus 18:18 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if his first wife gives her consent and Karaites interpret Exodus 21:10 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if he is capable of maintaining the same level of marital duties due to his first wife: namely, food, clothing, and sexual gratification.

Because of these two biblical limitations and because nearly all western countries outlaw it, polygyny is considered impractical, and there are no known cases of it among Karaite Jews.

Christianity

Main article: Christian Plural Marriage

Polygyny was not practiced by Christians during the New Testament era. Plural marriage is currently rejected by most sects of Christianity.

The current predominant belief among Christians in the United States is that polygyny is wrong and claim there is New Testament Biblical evidence to support that stance, citing for example Matthew 19:4–6 (KJV):

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Some suggest the New Testament Church did ban polygyny for bishops (1 Timothy 3:2). However, the word for "one" is correctly translated as "first" and as an indefinite article as well, which opens other possible interpretations. The First Epistle to the Corinthians of Paul the Apostle concisely addresses each of the two gender forms of polygamy (in the sequence first polyandry and next polygyny) as follows: "But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband." (1 Corinthians 7:2, NRSV) Additional contrasts between 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians on other specific topics are compiled within broader-scale discussions on authorship of the Pauline epistles.

Martin Luther believed that Christianity did not prohibit polygyny and predicted that future Christians would have multiple wives. Writing to Gregor Brück, Luther stated that marrying several wives did not contradict Scripture. ("Ego sane fateor, me non posse prohibere, si quis plures velit uxores ducere, nec repugnat sacris literis.")

Interviewed by Time magazine about his book, Michael Coogan said that according to Sola Scriptura, the Fundamentalist Mormons were right about polygamy. He was chief editor for the Oxford Annotated Bible, 4th Edition (as well as the prececessor 3rd Edition). As to why fundamentalist Mormons are "right in a sense" regarding polygyny, the reasoning he offers does include both "There is no unequivocal statement in the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible, that says that monogamy should be the norm", and also "If you're going to be a strict literalist, there's nothing wrong with polygamy." The Oxford Annotated Bible, 4th Edition in turn does, in comparison, annotate 1 Corinthians 7:2 as "...Paul counsels monogamy..."

East Asia

Having offspring is very important in Chinese culture. China has practiced polygyny for thousands of years. Polygyny had been legal and was written in the law as recently as the end of the Qing/Ching dynasty of the imperial China (1911).

A part of the Confucian tradition indicates the importance of procreation, as it is considered to be part of filial piety. Therefore, it is possible that this type of thinking influenced the view towards polygyny.

In the past, Emperors could have hundreds to thousands of concubines. And subsequently rich officials and merchants could also have a number of concubines besides wives. The first wife is head or mother wife, other wives are under her headship if the husband is away, and others are concubines and have lower status than the full wives. Offspring from concubines did receive equal wealth/legacy from their father.

The original wife (or legal wife) is referred to as the 正室 zhèngshì /정실 (main room) both in China, Japan and Korea. 大婆 dàpó (big woman/big wife) is the slang term. Both terms indicate the orthodox nature and hierarchy. The official wife is either called "big mother" (大媽 dàmā), mother or auntie. The child of the concubine simply addresses the big mother as auntie.

The written word for the second woman is 側室 cèshì /측실 and literally means "she who occupied the side room". This word is also used in both China and Japan. They are also called 妾 qiè/첩 in China and Korea.

The common terms referring to the second woman and the act of having the second woman respectively are 二奶 (èrnǎi / yi nai), literally "the second wife". The terms have been widely used in the media. Though illegal, it is still practiced by many richer men who can afford to support a mistress and her subsequent children. The mass media often report polygyny cases of the rich and the famous.

People's Republic of China

In modern mainland China, polygamy (and by extension polygyny) is illegal under Marriage Law passed in 1980 which replaced a similar prohibition passed in 1950. Polygyny was seen as a characteristic of the bourgeoisie and as such, many senior Communist leaders who had mistresses and concubines during the Long March were forced to disband them. Because of this, polygyny is virtually unheard of in China today.

However, with the opening up of the country and the increased contact with Hong Kong and Taiwan, certain polygamous activities began appearing. Cross-border polygyny is ever increasing between PRC, Hong Kong and ROC.

Taiwan

Polygyny is illegal in the 1930 ROC civil law. However, it is common for some richer Taiwanese to have secret second lovers who become concubines not living together with the wife. Taiwanese merchants, businessmen and workers are stationed in mainland China during work trips, and it is usual to keep secret lovers or even secret families there.

Hong Kong and Macau

Polygyny was banned in October 1971 but the practice is still evident. Chinese men in Hong Kong could still practice polygamy by virtue of the Qing Code, which ended only with the passing of the Marriage Act of 1971. A famous example is Dr Stanley Ho who owns the Casino Lisboa in Macau. He has four wives. His uncle has 12 wives.

Kevin Murphy of the International Herald Tribune reported on the cross-border polygamy phenomenon in Hong Kong in 1995. The cost of maintaining a second family is lower in the PRC. Since work pressure in Hong Kong is extremely high and the birth rate is the lowest in the world, many local businessmen keep a secret concubine across the border in mainland China. Girls in mainland China are moreover more willing to be full-time mothers at a younger age.

In a research paper of Berlin Humboldt University on sexology, Doctor Man-Lun Ng estimated about 300,000 men to have mistresses in China. In 1995, 40% of extramarital affairs involved a stable partner

Period drama is performed to this day depicting the former culture of polygamy (usually polygyny). A famous example is the Wuxia novel The Deer and the Cauldron by Hong Kong writer Louis Cha, in which the protagonist Wei Xiaobao has seven wives. The novel and its film and TV series adaptations became immensely popular among Chinese-speaking communities around the world.

Islam

Main article: Polygamy in Islam

Many majority Muslim countries retain the traditional Sharia which interprets teachings of the Quran to permit polygamy with up to four wives, as long as it is practiced under the specified conditions. Exceptions to this include Albania, Tunisia, Turkey, and former USSR republics. Though about 70% of the population of Albania is historically Muslim, the majority is non-practicing. Turkey and Tunisia are countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations that enforce secularist practices by law. In the former USSR republics, a prohibition against polygamy has been inherited from Soviet Law. A current revival of polygamy in the Muslim World has fueled attempts to re-legalize and re-legitimize it in some countries and communities where it is illegal.

Russia

Polygamy is illegal throughout the Russian Federation but is tolerated in predominantly Muslim republics such as Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan. Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic, has been quoted on radio as saying that the depopulation of Chechnya by war justifies legalizing polygamy. Kadyrov has been supported by Nafigallah Ashirov, the Chairman of the Council of Grand Muftis of Russia, with the statement that polygamy is already widespread among Muslim communities of the country.

Although non-Muslim Russian populations are historically monogamous, Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky offered to legalize polygyny in order to tackle the demographic crisis of Russians. Zhirinovsky made his first proposal to legalize polygamy as early as 1993, after Kadyrov's declaration that he would introduce an amendment to legalize polygyny for all Russian citizens.

Kyrgyzstan

Although illegal, polygamy is a traditional practice that has been revived in Kyrgyzstan. A proposal to decriminalize polygamy came before the Kyrgyz parliament and on March 26, 2007, despite strong backing of the Justice Minister, the country's ombudsman and the Muslim Women's organization Mutakalim that gathered 40,000 signatures in favour of polygamy, the parliament rejected the bill. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is known as a prominent opponent of legalizing polygyny.

Kenya

Logoli Tribe Kenya

In the traditional Logoli society, marriage was a fundamental concern to more people than just the potential spouses. Polygynous marriage was preferred among the Logoli and other Abalulya sub ethnic groups. Taking additional wives was regarded as on of the fundamental indicators of a successfully established man. Large families enhanced the prestige of Logoli men. Logoli men with large families were also capable of obtaining justice, as they would be feared people, who would not forcefully dare take their livestock or other things away from them. In interviews with some of the contemporary Logoli men and women who recently ventured into polygynous marriages yielded data which suggests that marrying another wife is usually approached with considerable thought and deliberation which may or may not involve or require the consent of the other wives and prospective wife’s parents. Some of the men also indicated that they were pressured by their parents to marry another wife who could contribute additional income to the family. Some of the young polygynous men indicated that they found themselves trapped in polygyny as a result of the large number of single women who needed and were actually willing to have them as their husband regardless of the fact that they were already married. Most of the women were insecure older women who had not married yet due to the shortage of women in the area. .

==Tajikistan==

Due to a recent increase in the number of polygamous marriages, proposals were made in Tajikistan to re-legalize polygamy. Tajik women who want to be second wives are particularly supportive of decriminalizing polygyny. Mukhiddin Kabiri, the Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan states that legislation is unlikely to stop the growth in polygyny and criticizes the ruling élite for speaking out against the practice while taking more than one wife themselves.

Other former USSR republics

There have also been recent arguments in favour of re-legalizing polygamy in other ex-Soviet Muslim republics like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Muslim communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been traditionally known to practice polygamy at a very limited level. The custom last existed in Cazinska Krajina in the early 1950s. Although illegal in the country, polygamy is encouraged by certain religious circles and there is a current increase in the number of practitioners. This trend appears linked with the advent of Wahhabism in the Balkans.

The Bosniak population in neighbouring Sandžak has also been affected by this trend in Bosnia. There have been attempts to adopt an entire Islamic jurisdiction including polygamy but these moves have been rejected. However, this has not barred the top cleric, the Mufti of Novi Pazar, Muamer Zukorlić from taking a second wife.

Turkey

Turkey is the only Muslim country located in the Middle East (and one the two along with Israel) that has abolished polygamy, which was officially criminalized with the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code in 1926, a milestone in Atatürk's secularist reforms. Penalties for illegal polygamy are up to 5 years imprisonment. becoming the first country in the area to do so. Turkey has long been known for its promotion of secularism, and has continued to introduce measures that have placed even stricter bars on polygamy, also by the ruling moderate Islamist AK Parti as well. The most recent prohibition act, passed in March 2009, by the AK Parti, effectively banned polygamists from entering or living in the country.

Although polygamy is very rare in Turkish society, the practice is still exists in the Kurdish populated South East.

An advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the ruling moderate Islamist AK Parti, Ali Yüksel, is reportedly polygamous and has made public his intention to take a fourth wife which caused outrage from the Turkish media and also from the AK Parti.