Polyandry

Polyandry is a form of polygamy (plural marriage) in which a woman takes more than one husband. The practice of polygamy, in which a man takes more than one wife, is more common and culturally accepted than polyandry. Polyandry is found in several parts of the world as of the twenty-first century and can be traced to ancient and native cultures in Asia, Africa, and North and South America. It was—and still is—practiced mostly as a way to pool resources, keep land in one family, and control the population, especially in poor societies.

Background

Polygamy in one form or another has been practiced since the beginning of civilization. The practice has been mentioned in the sacred texts of several religions. The Hindu god Krishna had thousands of wives. In the Hebrew bible, Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon took multiple partners. Concubines, or women used to produce an heir, were permitted in Confucianism. The Islam prophet Mohamed married nine widows after his first wife died. The Koran in the Islam faith states that a man can marry up to four wives, but this is only if he can care for them all in an equal fashion. While mentioned in early writings, Judaism later prohibited the practice of polygamy. Many Muslims do not adhere to polygamous lifestyles, and polygamy is condemned in Christianity, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Polyandry was even less common and not all cultures accepted the practice of one woman having multiple husbands. The Sumerian king Urukagina of Lagash banned polyandry in Mesopotamia around 2300 B.C.E. Despite the bans and religious prohibitions, polygamy, and polyandry, continued. Ancient civilizations in the Indian subcontinent, Canadian Arctic, and parts of Africa permitted polyandry in an effort to preserve certain societies. In African societies, the custom of widow inheritance was adopted to keep land in a particular family. The Irigwe tribe of Nigeria allowed women to take cohusbands, but they did not all have to live in the same household. A woman moved from house to house to live with different men; if she became pregnant, the owner of the house she lived in at the time was assigned as the father of the child. This practice continued until 1968, when the government ruled against it. In the Amazon, tribes allowed both women and men to take multiple partners.

Polyandry mostly was practiced as a way to manage property, but the custom also allowed men in societies where women were scarce to marry and have children. This was done in an effort to help increase the population in many places with more women than men. It was also practiced in regions where the adult male mortality rate was high; in these cases, the first husband arranged additional husbands for his wife, so she and her children would be cared for in the event of his absence or death. In addition, the more people who contributed to a household the wealthier the household would become. Men who would otherwise be homeless or starving were given the chance to pool resources, which gave them the ability to prosper and succeed in life. Having more than one husband greatly reduced the time a woman spent doing household work, so she could devote herself to other chores, such as child-rearing.

In most cultures, polyandry was more prominent among related men than it was among unrelated men. It was thought that unrelated men would not be willing to parent children who were not theirs, while related men, such as brothers, would be more willing because any children produced would be related to them by blood. This was known as fraternal polyandry. The Inuit, Shoshoni, and Pawnee tribes and the Hephalite tribe in Northern China practiced fraternal polyandry. Some women in these societies even wore hats with horns on them to indicate how many husbands they had.

In some Indian societies, all the brothers in a family married one woman, and the family lived in one house together. The woman typically tried to have children with each of the men. The men knew who their biological children were, but these men were not considered the children's official father figure. The offspring called the oldest man in the family "father," while they called the younger men "uncle."

Topic Today

Polyandry is practiced both legally and illegally in the modern world in several countries, such as India, Bhutan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, and Tibet. In areas where the populations are very small and where land conditions are poor, fraternal polyandry is considered the normal and preferred custom. Many polyandry marriages are arranged like business deals. A woman whose family has a plot of land is promised to be a wife to a family of brothers. After she marries the brothers, they all live and work on the plot of land. The wife must treat each husband equally. Any children produced must treat all of their "fathers" in an equal way—even if they know who their biological father is. Sometimes, the oldest man of the family is considered the main husband or leader of the household.

While sharing a wife can lead to economic prosperity, some men choose to forgo plural marriage. Some do not want to share a wife and/or property. They instead opt to stay single or marry a woman who will take only one husband. Increased resources and opportunities in other areas have allowed some men to move from their polyandry communities and find economic stability in areas where traditional monogamous marriages are the norm.

While polyandry is considered a rare practice in the twenty-first century, it has been proposed as a population solution in China, where the birth control policies of the 1970s led to a surplus of men in the 2010s. An economist suggested that the country adopt polyandry to allow more men to marry. The idea, it was argued, would also help poor men who cannot compete with wealthier men for wives and who will have no one to support them when they get older. If these men married and had children, they would be secure later in life because children are required to care for elderly parents under Chinese law.

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