CARE Affair #11 - Power

By RAKIETOU HASSANE MOSSI, ANJA ENGELKE and MIA VEIGEL
Polygamy refers to the cohabitation with several partners. From the anthropological
point of view and in the everyday meaning, it usually means marriage with more than one
partner, sometimes also known as multiple marriage. Although the image persists that only
men live in polygamous relationships, the term itself is gender-neutral. However in most
cases it is polygyny: A man lives with several wives. In some countries such as Gabon, women
are also permitted multiple marriages; this is known as polyandry.
Polygamy is most widespread in mainly Islamic African countries including Niger and
50 percent of the
mous relationships.
harder to find. Polyg-
and Burkina Faso,
and Nigeria, on the
falls into the catego-
In those countries
ners are not officially
practice is tolerated.
bitions, polygamy is
other countries such
the African continent,
more than two part-
Senegal, where up to
women are in polyga-
Statistics for men are
amy is legal in Senegal
for example. In Niger
other hand, polygamy
ry of customary law.
several marriage partpermitted,
but the
Despite legal prohifrequently
practiced in
as Ghana. Apart from
relationships between
Polygamy
ners are widespread above all in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but are also
legal and often practiced in many other Asian countries.
There are many attempts to explain why polygamous relationships have become established
in so many cultures. An important factor is certainly that women are seen as
status symbols in some countries: the more partners a man has, the more wealth and influence
he possesses. In tropical areas where small children are particularly vulnerable to
diseases such as measles, mothers reject all sexual activity for up to two years in order to
breastfeed their children for as long as possible, protecting them from infection. Wives often
agree to an additional marriage during this period. More polygamous marriages are also
found in countries where death rates among men are particularly high. In these cases there
is simply an excess of women, often due to armed conflicts.
Polygamy
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