User:Kswemley1/Polygyny

Citation Assignment Week 3: Kirsten Swemley
Gendered labor divisions are frequently observed in areas that have a high occurrence of the practice of polygyny. Men often perform the more strength intensive duties and women often are required to tend to the domestic tasks and providing food for their large families.

Ideas for article improvement:

 * Add information on women's benefits to polygyny and reference the polygyny article from assigned class reading (some women prefer polygyny).
 * Add more information onto Polygyny in Kenya and Nigeria.
 * Add more examples of polygyny in African countries.
 * Malawai
 * South Africa
 * Ghana
 * Potentially add section discussing the effects on women who chose to leave their polygynous relationship. Add details on the effects of polygyny on men, ie. marriage and relationship complications among young men, income inequality, men being more prone to violence.


 * Threat and spread of disease, ie. Herpes, HIV.
 * Studies show that junior wives in polygynous unions are more likely to be HIV positive then those in monogamous ones. However, overall HIV prevalence is lower in populations with more polygyny.
 * In Malawi, studies show two primary causes of HIV prevalence in polygynous unions. First, men in polygynous unions have a higher rate of extramarital relationships. Secondly, there is an observation of adverse selection of HIV positive women into polygynous unions from order of marriage (from senior to junior wives).
 * The age gap between men and women in polygynous relationships increase HIV infection. Younger women, typically poorer and without status in comparison with men, are more likely to engage in sex for material gain, which increases exposure to STDs. Disease can then spread on the onset of entering a polygynous union.
 * The practice of widow inheritance also increases spread of HIV. A man who inherits the wife of a deceased brother may contract diseases such as HIV if the wife carries.
 * Migration from areas of high rates of STD's such as HIV and Herpes, such as urban areas to those with low rates, such as rural areas, can contribute to spread of disease.
 * Studies also show that polygynous relationships have, on average, less emotional connection and communication compared to monogamous relationships. Men who are distant from their wives can be left on the dark of what their junior wives live through or engage in, resulting in disease spread without awareness.

Article Draft: Kirsten Swemley
Age Gap:

Increased prostitution and adultery is seen in rural regions where marriage is postponed by young males, who often unable to afford the bride-wealth, which can be the equivalent cost of several years of intensive labour.

Increased age gap divisions between a husband and his first wive can also be attributed to the recruitment of young men by Europeans for labour purposes. Their recruitment often takes place around the age where one would accrue a wife, creating an age gap in the time of their absence and the delaying of marriage until their return.

Age gap divisions are also created between a first wife and a second, young wife, who is often viewed as a servant to the first.

Effects on Women :

The postponement of marriage by young males can create a steady rise in adultery and prostitution, putting women at risk.

Though it is becoming increasingly a more rare event, women, in some cases, were pawned by their husbands as servants or labourers to their creditors to erase a debt or loan.

Leaving Polygyny:

There are structures instilled in polygyny that allow for a woman to leave the marriage, but leaving polygyny is not an easy task. To leave a polygynist lifestyle, women simply have to repay their bride price, which is not an easy task. To prevent en easy exit for their wives, men often keep the bride price at high and unpayable levels for women.

Nigeria:
Polygyny varies according to a woman’s age, religion and educational experience. Research conducted in the city of Ibadan, the second largest city in Nigeria, show that non-educated woman are significantly higher (58%) to be in a polygynous union compared to college educated women (4%). Followers of traditional African religions are expected to have as many wives as they can afford. Muslim men are allowed up to 4 women and only the basis he can care for and treat them equally. Christians are typically (and expected) to be monogamous.

Among the Ngwa group in Eastern Nigeria, studies show that 70% of polygynous marriages consist of illiterate men and women, compared to 53% in monogamous marriages.

South Africa:
Polygyny in South Africa is typically seen among the Muslim community, although polygynous unions overall are not widely practiced in South Africa among all religious and ethnic groups. Polygynous marriages of individuals over the age of 15 accounts for approximately 30,000 (0.1%) people in 2001. Both Islamic law and cultural family laws create a system in which Muslim men are encouraged to take up to four wives. Common factors for this include infertility or long-term illness of the first wife, excessive wealth on the part of the husband enabling him to support widowed or divorced mothers, and the economic benefits of large families.

Despite the historical and cultural history of polygyny among Muslim South Africans, polygynous unions are officially illegal on the federal level in South Africa. After 1994, various laws such as the freedom of religion in the South African Constitution, the ratification of the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and a proposed Draft Bill on Muslim Marriages have tackled the issue of Islamic polygynous unions in South Africa.

Malawi:
While polygynous marriages are not legally recognized under the civil marriage laws of Malawi, customary law affords a generous amount of benefits to polygynous unions, ranging from inheritance rights to child custody. It has been estimated that nearly one in five women in Malawi live in polygynous relationships.

Efforts to abolish the practice and de facto recognition of polygyny have been widely apparent throughout the recent years in Malawi; led mainly by anti-AIDS organizations and feminist groups. An effort led in 2008 to outlaw polygyny in the country was fiercely opposed by Islamic religious leaders, citing the practice as a cultural, religious and pragmatic reality of the nation.

Disease:
Studies show there are two mechanisms that could lead to higher prevalence rates of HIV in men and women who are in polygynous unions: partners in polygynous unions have more extra-marital relationships and thus increase each other’s exposure to HIV; women who are recruited into a polygynous union are more likely tube HIV positive than those who marry a monogamous husband. In addition to these two mechanisms, variation in HIV prevalence rates by union type is possibly due to individuals in polygynous unions are typically part of a sexual network with concurrent partnerships.

The ecological association between polygyny and HIV prevalence is shown to be negative at the sub-national level. HIV prevalence tends to be lower in countries where the practice of polygyny is common, and within countries it is lower in areas with higher levels of polygyny. Proposed explanations for the protective effect of polygyny include the distinctive structure of sexual networks produced by polygyny, the disproportionate recruitment of HIV positive women into marriages with a polygynous husband, and the lower coital frequency in conjugal dyads of polygynous marriages.

For example, studies in Malawi have shown that for men and women in polygynous marriages, the rate of HIV is between 10-15%. About 14% of Malawi’s population is infected with HIV, which causes AIDS, according to official figures. There are approximately 78,000 AIDS-related deaths and 100,000 new infections every year in the country.

Effects on Women:
Studies of the Ngwa group in eastern Nigeria shows that on average, women in polygynous unions are 22-26% less fertile then women in monogamous unions.

Data shows that the greater the intensity of polygyny, the lower the fertility of successive wives: 15 percent deficit for first wives; a 37% deficit for second wives; and a 46% deficit for third or more wives.

This relationship exists, as would be expected, because of the widening age gap between the successive order of wives and because of the decreasing exposure to coitus, if all coitus occurs in marriage.