The Persistence of Polygyny as an Adaptive Response to Poverty and Oppression in Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Many women in Africa choose polygynous over monogamous marriages even in the absence of pressure from relatives. Western explanations of polygyny assume special qualities of the polygynous husband, usually identifying exceptional economic resources as the quality that makes women willing to share a man. This study, conducted in and around Johannesburg and Pretoria from 1983 to 1986, identified other adult females as the most important resource contributing to the reproductive success of women married polygynously. For these women, the critical relationship was not with the man but with his female associates, including both kin and cowives. Western analyses of marriage overemphasize the attributes of men and disregard the contribution of bonds among females to wives’ success.