Polygamy

Polygamy (from Late Greek πολυγαμία, polygamía, "state of marriage to many spouses") involves marriage with more than one spouse. When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. If a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called a group marriage. In contrast, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a de facto sense, applied regardless of whether the relationship is recognized by the state. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

Polygamy is widely accepted among different societies worldwide. According to the Ethnographic Atlas, of 1,231 societies noted, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry.

Polygamy exists in three specific forms:

Polygamy is also common among some animals, such as the common fruit-fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

Polygyny is the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time. The vast majority of polygamous marriages are polygynous. Polygyny is legally accepted in many Muslim majority countries and some countries with a sizeable Muslim minority; it is also accepted in some secular countries in varying degrees.

Anthropologist Jack Goody's comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the Ethnographic Atlas demonstrated an historical correlation between the practice of extensive shifting horticulture and polygamy in the majority of sub-Saharan African societies. Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies between the male-dominated intensive plough-agriculture common in Eurasia and the extensive shifting horticulture found in sub-Saharan Africa. In some of the sparsely populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, women do much of the work. This favours polygamous marriages in which men sought to monopolize the production of women "who are valued both as workers and as child bearers". Goody however, observes that the correlation is imperfect and varied. He also discusses more male-dominated though relatively extensive farming systems such as those that exist in much of West Africa, in particular the West African savannah, where polygyny is desired more for the creation of sons, whose labor is valued.

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