Polygamy is the practice of having many spouses. There are two forms of polygamy, polyandry where a woman marries more than one husbands and polygyny where a man marries more than one wife. Of the two polygyny is more common and “was accepted or even preferred in three/fourths of preindustrial traditional societies” (Coontz, 2006). On the other hand, monogamy is the practice of having one spouse at a time in the modern times most relationships are monogamous and is the dominant type of marriage across most cultures. (Brennan, 2021)
Unlike what modern western societies may think polygyny was not about men having many sexual partners but was away of forming alliances and gaining political power for the leadership of different societies such as kings and chiefs. This was done by marrying women of the different tribes and therefore forming alliances with them. It was also a way of acquiring more wealth as a man who had many wives and children had a big pool of labor and therefore would get richer and gain respect in his society. Unlike monogamy polygyny was a preserve of the rich in society therefore it led to older richer men marrying younger wives and therefore denying younger men access to wives (Coontz, 2006).
Polyandry on the other hand although less practiced than polygyny was also less about having a lot of sexual partners and more about solving the unique problems of a society. This is best illustrated by the most well-known society who practice this form of marriage the Tibetans of the Himalaya. Because arable land is scarce on the Himalayans dividing it into smaller holdings would mean that eventually there would be no land to subdivide therefore one woman is married by brothers and they do not have to subdivide the family land. It also serves as a form of family planning and controlling the population because the number of times a woman can get pregnant are limited (National geographic, n.d). unlike in a monogamous marriage a woman in a polyandry marriage would be required to fulfill the sexual needs of several men which can be draining.
References
Brennan, D. (2021). What is monogamy. https://www.webmd.com/sex/what-is-monogamy
Coontz, S. (2006). Polygamy: A historical background. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Coontz2006_Polygamy-fact-sheet.pdf
National geographic. (n.d.). Multiple husbands/ National geographic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4yjrDSvze0
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