Editing Polygyny (section)

==Cause and explanation==
===Augmenting division of labor===
[[Ester Boserup]] was the first to propose that the high incidence of polygyny in sub-Saharan Africa is rooted in the sexual division of labor in [[hoe-farming]] and the large economic contribution of women.<ref name="goody" />{{sfn|Boserup|1970}}
 
{{Anthropology of kinship}}

In some regions of shifting cultivation where polygyny is most frequently recorded, labor is often starkly divided between genders. In many of these cases, the task of felling trees in preparation of new plots, the fencing of fields against wild animals, and sometimes the planting of crops, is usually done by men and older boys (along with hunting, fishing and the raising of livestock).<ref name="FB 1969">Guyer, Jane. (1991). "Female Farming in Anthropology and African History". ''Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the postmodern Era''. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. pp. 260-261.</ref><ref name="Cornwall2005">{{cite book|author=Andrea Cornwall|title=Readings in Gender in Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INci71MNlhQC&pg=PA103|date=2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-34517-2|pages=103–110}}</ref> Wives, on the other hand, are responsible for other aspects of cultivating, food processing and providing meals and for performing domestic duties for the family. Boserup notes that though women's work comprises a larger percentage of tasks that form the basis of sub-Saharan life, women often do not receive the majority portion of the benefits that accompany economic and agricultural success.

{{Close relationships}}

An elderly cultivator, with several wives and likely several young male children, benefits from having a much larger workforce within his household. By the combined efforts of his young sons and young wives, he may gradually expand his cultivation and become more prosperous. A man with a single wife has less help in cultivation and is likely to have little or no help for felling trees. According to Boserup's historical data, women living in such a structure also welcome one or more co-wives to share with them the burden of daily labor. However, the second wife will usually do the most tiresome work, almost as if she were a servant to the first wife, and will be inferior to the first wife in status.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|pp=41–47}} A 1930s study of the [[Mende people|Mende]] in the West African state of Sierra Leone concluded that a plurality of wives is an agricultural asset, since a large number of women makes it unnecessary to employ wage laborers.{{sfn|Little|1967}} Polygyny is considered an economic advantage in many rural areas. In some cases, the economic role of the additional wife enables the husband to enjoy more leisure.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|pp=40–41}}

Anthropologist [[Jack Goody]]'s comparative study of marriage around the world, using the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]], demonstrated a historical correlation between the practice of extensive [[shifting cultivation]] and polygyny in many Sub-Saharan African societies.<ref name=goody>{{cite book|last=Goody|first=Jack|title=Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain|date=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=27–29}}</ref> Drawing on the work of [[Ester Boserup]], Goody notes that in some of the sparsely-populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, much of the work is done by women. This favored polygynous 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 also describes more traditionally male-dominated though relatively extensive farming systems, such as those common in much of West Africa, particularly the [[savanna]] region, where more agricultural work is done by men, and polygamy is desired more for the production of male offspring whose labor in farming is valued.<ref>Goody, Jack. ''Polygyny, Economy and the Role of Women. In The Character of Kinship''. London: Cambridge University Press, 1973, p. 180–190.</ref>

Goody's observation regarding African male farming systems is discussed and supported by anthropologists Douglas R. White and Michael L. Burton in their article, "Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare",<ref name="white 1988">{{cite journal | last1=White | first1=Douglas | last2=Burton | first2=Michael | date=1988 | title=Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare |url= https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0468q4xq | journal=American Anthropologist | volume=90| issue=4| pages=871–887 | doi=10.1525/aa.1988.90.4.02a00060}}</ref>{{rp|884}} where the authors note: "Goody (1973) argues against the female contributions hypothesis. He notes Dorjahn's (1959) comparison of East and

West Africa, showing higher female agricultural contributions in East Africa and higher polygyny rates in West Africa, especially in the West African savanna, where one finds especially high male agricultural contributions. Goody says, "The reasons behind polygyny are sexual and reproductive rather than economic and productive" (1973:189), arguing that men marry polygynously to maximize their fertility and to obtain large households containing many young dependent males."<ref name="white 1988" />{{rp|873}}<ref name="White2">{{cite journal | vauthors=White DR, Burton ML, Dow MM| title=Sexual Division of Labor in African Agriculture: A Network Autocorrelation Analysis | journal = American Anthropologist | volume=83 | issue=4 | pages=824–849 | date=December 1981 | doi=10.1525/aa.1981.83.4.02a00040 | url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227632381 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

An analysis by James Fenske (2012) found that child mortality and ecologically-related economic shocks had a stronger association with rates of polygamy in Sub-Saharan Africa rather than female agricultural contributions (which are typically relatively small in the West African savanna and Sahel, where polygyny rates are higher), finding that polygyny rates decrease significantly in line with child mortality rates.<ref>{{Citation | last=Fenske | first=James | title=African Polygamy: Past and Present |url= https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/12544/csae-wps-2012-20.pdf | publisher=Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford | pages=1–30 | date=November 2012 | access-date=2019-09-27 | archive-date=2017-09-22 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170922005828/https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/12544/csae-wps-2012-20.pdf }}</ref>

===Desire for progeny===
Most research into the determinants of polygyny has focused on macro-level factors. Widespread polygyny is linked to the kinship groups that share descent from a common ancestor.<ref name="Timeas 1998">Timeas, Ian and Reyner, Angela. "[http://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/iantimaeus/files/2012/04/Polygyny.pdf Polygynists and Their Wives in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis of Five Demographic and Health Surveys]". ''Population Studies'' 52:2 (1998)</ref> Polygyny also served as "a dynamic principle of family survival, growth, security, continuity, and prestige", especially as a socially approved mechanism that increases the number of adult workers immediately and the eventual workforce of resident children.<ref name="Gwako, Edwins Laban 1998"/>

According to scientific studies, the human mating system is considered to be moderately polygynandrous (multiple males and multiple females, all mate with each other), based both on surveys of world populations,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Low |first1=Bobbi S. |title=Measures of Polygyny in Humans |journal=Current Anthropology |date=February 1988 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=189–194 |doi=10.1086/203627 |s2cid=143665535 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/203627}}</ref><ref>Murdock G. P. (1981) Atlas of World Cultures. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press</ref> and on characteristics of human reproductive physiology.<ref>Anderson, M. J.; Dixson, A. F. (2002). "Sperm competition: motility and the midpiece in primates". ''Nature'' 416: 496</ref><ref>Dixson, A. L.; Anderson, M. J. (2002). "Sexual selection, seminal coagulation and copulatory plug formation in primates". ''Folia Primatol'' 73: 63–69.</ref><ref>Harcourt, A. H.; Harvey, P. H.; Larson, S. G.; Short, R.V. (1981). "Testis weight, body weight and breeding system in primates". ''Nature'' 293: 55–57</ref>

===Economic burden===
Scholars have argued that 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 or he must hire laborers to do part of the work. In such regions, polygyny is either non-existent or is a luxury which only a small minority of rich farmers can indulge.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|pp=47–48}}

A report by the secretariat of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) quotes: "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".{{sfn|Boserup|1970|p=37}} In Boserup's 1970 discussion of earlier analyses of polygynous systems, for example that of Little's work of the 1930s,{{sfn|Little|1967}} that through the hard work, economic, and agricultural assistance of a man's several wives, a husband could afford to pay the bride price of a new wife and further his access to more land, meanwhile increasing his progeny.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|pp=37–40}} According to Boserup, writing in 1970, tribal rules of land tenure were still in force over much of the continent of Africa.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|p=37}} In this system, members of a tribe which commands a certain territory had 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 economic asset that helps the family to expand its production.

The economist [[Michèle Tertilt]] concludes that countries that practice polygyny are less economically stable than those that practice [[monogamy]]. Polygynous countries usually have a higher fertility rate, fewer savings reserves, and a lower GDP. A 2014 study estimates that fertility would decrease by 40 percent, savings would increase by 70 percent and GDP would increase by 170 percent if polygyny were banned.<ref name="dalton">{{Cite journal|last1=Dalton|first1=John|last2=Leung|first2=Tin Cheuk|date=2014|title=Why Is Polygyny More Prevalent in Western Africa? An African Slave Trade Perspective|url=http://users.wfu.edu/daltonjt/PolygynySlaveTrade.pdf|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|volume=62|issue=4|pages=601–604|via=Business Source Complete|doi=10.1086/676531|ssrn=1848183|s2cid=224797897}}</ref> Monogamous societies present a surge in economic productivity because monogamous men are able to save and invest their resources due to having fewer children. Polygynous societies have a higher concentration of men investing into methods of mating with women, whereas monogamous men invest more into their families and other related institutions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Porter|first=Jonathan|date=2015|title=L'amour for four: polygyny, polyamory, and the state's compelling economic interest in normative monogamy|url=http://law.emory.edu/elj/_documents/volumes/64/6/porter.pdf|journal=Emory Law Journal|volume=64|page=2121}}</ref>

Despite the expenses of polygynous marriages, a 1995 study suggests that men benefit from marrying multiple wives through the economic and social insurance that [[kinship]] ties produce. With a large network of in-laws, these men have the ties they need to compensate for other economic shortages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jacoby|first=Hanan|date=1995|title=The Economics of Polygyny in Sub-Saharan Africa: Female Productivity and the Demand for Wives in Côte d'Ivoire|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=103|issue=5|pages=942–943|doi=10.1086/262009|s2cid=153376774}}</ref>

===Libido===
Some analysts have posited that a high [[libido]] may be a factor in polygyny,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kammeyer|first1=Kenneth|title=Confronting the issues: Sex roles, marriage, and the family|url=https://archive.org/details/confrontingissue00kamm|date=1975|page=[https://archive.org/details/confrontingissue00kamm/page/117 117]|publisher=Allyn and Bacon |isbn=978-0-205-04813-7}}</ref> although others have downplayed its significance.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baber|first1=Ray|title=Marriage and the Family|date=1939|page=38}}</ref> The sex drive as a factor in some Asian cultures was sometimes associated with wealthy men and those that were adjunct to an aristocracy,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Paul|title=Indian Women Through the Ages: A Historical Survey of the Position of Women and the Institutions of Marriage and Family in India from Remote Antiquity to the Present Day. P. Thomas|date=1964|page=206}}</ref> although such libidinal perceptions were at times discarded in favor of seeing polygyny as a factor of traditional life.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dardess|first1=George|title=Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians|url=https://archive.org/details/meetingislamguid0000dard|url-access=registration|date=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/meetingislamguid0000dard/page/99 99]|publisher=Paraclete Press |isbn=978-1-55725-433-7}}</ref> For example, many sub-Saharan African societies view polygyny as essential to expand their progeny and kinship, a practice of high cultural importance. In this case, it would be hard to determine whether the origin was that of high libido, as polygyny would be practiced regardless. Other explanations postulate that polygyny is a tool used to ward off inclinations towards infidelity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Balon|first1=R|title=Is Infidelity Biologically Determined?|journal=European Psychiatry|volume=30|date=2015|page=72|doi=10.1016/S0924-9338(15)30061-4|s2cid=141975947}}</ref> In a chapter comparing Sub-Saharan African polygyny, Boserup (1970) comments that in regions where polygyny is practiced, but for demographic and economic reasons must to be delayed for males until older ages, higher incidences of adultery and prostitution are expected to be present.{{sfn|Boserup|1970|p=44}}

===Enslavement of women===
Researchers have suggested that [[Vikings]] may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hrala |first1=Josh |title=Vikings Might Have Started Raiding Because There Was a Shortage of Single Women |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/vikings-might-have-raided-because-there-was-a-shortage-of-single-women |work=ScienceAlert |date=18 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Choi |first1=Charles Q. |title=The Real Reason for Viking Raids: Shortage of Eligible Women? |url=https://www.livescience.com/56786-vikings-raided-to-find-love.html |work=Live Science |date=8 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/iceland-founded-viking-slaves|title=Sex Slaves – The Dirty Secret Behind The Founding Of Iceland|date=2018-01-16|website=All That's Interesting|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722043846/https://allthatsinteresting.com/iceland-founded-viking-slaves|archive-date=22 July 2019|access-date=2019-07-22}}</ref><ref name=":01">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|title=Kinder, Gentler Vikings? Not According to Their Slaves|date=2015-12-28|website=National Geographic News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802035726/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|archive-date=2 August 2019|access-date=2019-08-02}}</ref> The concept was expressed in the 11th century by historian [[Dudo of Saint-Quentin]] in his semi-imaginary ''History of The Normans''.<ref name="Wyatt2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWJGynaKSkkC&pg=PA124|title=Slaves and Warriors in Medieval Britain and Ireland: 800–1200|author=David R. Wyatt|publisher=Brill|date=2009|isbn=978-90-04-17533-4|page=124}}</ref> Rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines, and these polygynous relationships might have led to a shortage of eligible women for the average Viking male. Due to this, the average Viking man could have been forced to perform riskier actions to gain wealth and power to be able to find suitable women.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Viegas |first1=Jennifer |title=Viking Age triggered by shortage of wives? |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26755692 |work=NBC News |date=17 September 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Knapton |first1=Sarah |title=Viking raiders were only trying to win their future wives' hearts |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/05/viking-raiders-were-only-trying-to-win-their-future-wives-hearts/ |work=The Telegraph |date=5 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/10/22/vikings-invasions/|title=New Viking Study Points to "Love and Marriage" as the Main Reason for their Raids|date=2018-10-22|website=The Vintage News|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802035734/https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/10/22/vikings-invasions/|archive-date=2 August 2019|access-date=2019-08-02}}</ref> Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karras|first=Ruth Mazo|date=1990|journal=Scandinavian Studies|volume=62|issue=2|pages=141–162 |jstor=40919117|title=Concubinage and Slavery in the Viking Age}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Poser|first=Charles M.|date=1994|title=The dissemination of multiple sclerosis: A Viking saga? A historical essay|journal=Annals of Neurology|language=en|volume=36|issue=S2|pages=S231–S243|doi=10.1002/ana.410360810|pmid=7998792|s2cid=36410898 }}</ref> The [[Annals of Ulster]] states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity".<ref name="DolfiniCrellin2018">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8e1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA349|title=Prehistoric Warfare and Violence: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches|author1=Andrea Dolfini|author2=Rachel J. Crellin|author3=Christian Horn|author4=Marion Uckelmann|publisher=Springer|date=2018|isbn=978-3-319-78828-9|page=349}}</ref>

Polygyny in West Africa, the region of the world where the practice is most common, exists in a societal context where historical factors, such as the slave trade, and the local religion, Islam, interact creating a culture where polygyny is widespread. The slave trade's impact on the male-to-female sex ratio has been cited as a key factor in the high prevalence of polygynous practices in this region of Africa.<ref name="dalton" />