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The term polygyny (neo-Greek: poly+gyne woman) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology.

In biology, polygyny is a mating practice in which a male has more than one female sexual partner. This is the most common form of polygamy. The opposite form—where a female has more than one male sexual partner —is known as polyandry. In eusocial insects it refers to situations where colonies have multiple queens.

In social anthropology it refers to the practice of a man having more than one wife at the same time.

In sociobiology, polygyny refers to a system in which a male has relationships with a relatively defined social group of more than one female, but the females are predominately bonded to a single male. It is also sometimes known as a harem structure. Polygyny also describes formal or persistent relationship structures rather than being an exhaustive description of individual behaviour. Social Biology is considered as a highly controversial field, especially when applied to humans.

Animal polygyny

There are some important differences in polygyny between humans and other animals. If we were forced to classify humans according to our mating system, it would be difficult to say whether we are “somewhat” polygynous or somewhat monogamous. It’s true that cross-culturally the majority of societies permit polygyny, but it’s also true that the majority of human mating occurs within monogamous unions. Table 1 gives us some sense of the diversity. What is clear is that our species mating pattern is variable.

Comparison with our closely living relatives, the chimpanzees, suggests that variability in mating may be characteristic of our lineage that we share with our last common ancestor between chimps and humans. Chimpanzees have a multi-male social organization, meaning that groups include several males and several females. Within chimp groups there appear to be several variations on mating patterns: The typical pattern is for several related males to dominate the group. This dominant fraternity shares sexual access to females and prevents other males from mating. A different pattern is for one male and one female to establish a kind of relationship, then when the female enters estrus, she and the male split off from the group for several weeks, when they have sex repeatedly in secluded parts of the forest. These “consortships” are temporary arrangements, sometimes between male and female friends and sometimes males coerce females into consortships. Males involved in consortships may or may not be part of the dominant male coalition. The frequency of consortships varies from one chimp group to the next, hinting at the kind of mating variation we see in humans. Sometimes a single dominant male chimp can monopolize sexual access to females and the group may be effectively polygynous for a time.

Monogamy is very rare among mammals; only 2% of species are monogamous. Monogamy is more common among primates: about 14% of species. About 19% of human societies are strictly monogamous (figure 1), but even the data on human polygyny suggest that most marriages are monogamous even though the majority of societies permit polygyny. Polyandry is very rare among mammals and humans.

Human Polygyny

The question is this: Why would women (or females of any species) put up with polygyny? The standard answer for most animals is that polygyny benefits female fitness. Where male parental care is not important or where males do not defend resources, then it’s in all female’s interest to mate with the few males that show signs of having the best genes. This means that some males will have offspring by multiple females and some males will have no offspring at all. When males provide their mates with resources either directly or indirectly, then those males that are better able to accrue resources attract more mates than less able males. We can calculate the benefits to females with an example:

For many animals the polygyny threshold model probably explains why females would share a mate: It’s in the interest of their fitness to do so. The polygyny threshold is especially relevant in the case of “resource defense polygyny” rather than “female defense” or “lekking.” At first glance resource defense polygyny might seem appropriate for humans too. After all, Sultan of Morocco Mulai Ismail had 4000 wives and probably had many times greater wealth than did the average guy of his time. It’s turned out be surprisingly difficult to prove the polygyny threshold hypothesis for humans.

Even if polygyny benefits women, Table 1 shows us that it is much more beneficial for a minority of men. If some particularly powerful men can exclude other men from mating, then powerful men should motivated to coerce women into polygynous unions even if it’s not in his mates best interest. This alternative to the polygyny threshold model might be called the “male coercion” model. We design a study to test between the two models. Within a population we simple compare the reproductive success of polygynous and monogamous women: Results showing that polygynous women have greater reproductive success than monogamous women indicate that we should reject the male coercion model in favor of polygyny threshold. Results showing that monogamous women have greater reproductive success than polygynous women indicate that we should reject the polygyny threshold model in favor of male coercion.

Polygyny has been practiced in many cultures throughout history. It was accepted in Hebrew society, in classical China, and was accepted in many traditional African and Polynesian cultures. In India, polygyny was practiced from ancient times onward, though historically only kings were polygynous in practise. For example, the Vijanagar emperor Krishnadevaraya had multiple wives. However, it was not accepted in ancient Greece or Rome, and was banned in the United States in 1890 as a result of laws passed concerning Mormon polygyny. It was practiced in the early LDS church, and the practice terminated with the church's self-declared Manifesto issued in September 1890. The political and economic rise of European nations from the sixteenth to the twentieth century has meant that polygyny is legally recognised in a decreasing number of countries. Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional Islamic law which permits polygyny, certain liberal movements within Islam continue to challenge its acceptability. See marriage for a discussion on the extent to which states can and do recognise these forms as valid. Polygyny was practiced by most of the patriarchs in the Hebrew Bible such as David, Moses, and Jacob, however in the New Testament, deacons, elders and overseers, are to have but one wife.

The economy of polygyny

Historically, polygyny was a matter of social policy in cultures where women were not permitted to be self-supporting. In early Latter Day Saints groups, LDS leader Joseph Smith said that he received a vision from God instructing him to implement the practice as it had been practiced by Abraham and Jacob. These families were called "plural families" and the wives were called "plural wives." Though Joseph said the revelation came from God, his own wife, Emma, was opposed to the practice. Contemporary Mormons explain that polygyny was implemented as a means of providing shelter for widows and orphans when the church was fleeing Missouri and Illinois and trekking West. There were many more women than men, and the Church claims that allowing polygyny enabled more women to have the economic and social protection of a husband on the long journey. Additionally, the spread of Islam was accompanied by battle deaths of great numbers of soldiers, requiring immediate replacement of males.

In some societies only the well-to-do among men could afford to have more than one wife, particularly if each wife required maintenance of a separate household. Islam permits as many as four wives, but now this depends on economic circumstance. Fewer than four are more usual. However, many Islamic rulers over the centuries, including today in Arabia such as the male members of the House of Saud, have had far more than four wives.

Even where accepted, polygyny will probably never involve the majority of men and women. Given a typical male to female ratio, imbalance of percentages of married/non-married people in the society is not a unique situation of polygyny: some men and women never obtain mates in monogamous cultures.

The required inheritance of widows requires men in some societies to marry the widow of a deceased brother. This helps provide support for her and increases his number of wives.

Stabilizing conventions in polygynous societies

Since the number of human males and females born is approximately equal, if some men have more than one wife, that necessarily deprives other men from obtaining even one wife. The resulting imbalance tends to be corrected within polygamous societies by one or more of the following conventions:
  • Men marry late (30+ years) and women marry early (mid teens, or earlier). This limits the number of men who can marry and prohibits the younger men from participation. Some societies have formal age grades for males, and no man may marry until he attains the highest grade. Younger age grades are used as a military force or for labor details. This works well in societies where the population pyramid has a wide base and narrow top.
  • High male mortality from warfare, feuding, occupational accident, and disease. Not only are the men too involved in these activities to consider marriage, but the number arriving at the marriageable age is reduced. Again, this means that fewer men than females are marriageable.
  • Bride price or bride service. Men are required to buy wives by presenting the bride's family with suitable and costly gifts, or carrying out long periods of work for them. Because bride prices are often collected by the bride's family, he will never be able to marry unless he has been obedient to their will, usually for a long period. Perhaps the most famous case was the Hebrew patriarch Jacob.

Modern polygamy

Although polygamous marriages are not recognised in most modern societies, polygamous male behaviour may be observed in the establishment of mistresses and concubines, whom they openly or secretly support.

In some cases the male may have a second (or more) family with the unofficial wife, supporting her and his illegitimate children. In some situations the wife not only is aware of the husband's mistress, but has helped him select one that is "suitable" to his station. The estate of "mistress" or "concubine" does not rank as highly as "wife".

It is common in some Chinese families to have more than one family. In the U.S., a Chinese man has both a Chinese and an American wife, in the Philippines, a man also has a Filipino wife and a Chinese wife. The non-Chinese wives are not counted but are considered concubines.

In the Chinese family, the official wife is either called as "big mother" (大媽), mother or auntie. Today the child of the mistress simply addresses the big mother as auntie.

The most prominent American polgynous society is the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, which is centered in Colorado City.

The wives in a polygamous marriage

One modern viewpoint adheres to the notion that polygyny degrades women, treating them as property and slaves. The inferior position that women experienced in polygynous societies is not acceptable by modern Western standards, however, the same could be said about the position of women generally in traditional societies, polygynous or not.

In some cases, polygamous marriages have shown considerable variability in the amount of influence and control multiple wives could command. Co-wives might support each other and help with domestic chores. In cases of sororal polygamy (sisters marrying the same male), close bonds may have already been formed. However, co-wives may also compete with each other for their husband's attention, particularly when previous wives are supplanted by a newer, younger wife. It is often practiced in places where the women outnumber men, so without polygyny many of these women would remain unmarried.

In China, a child is considered to have more than one mother. For example, a child may have up to four mothers the first wife being the "big mother" (大媽), the other wives considered as stepmothers. However it was more of the concubinage system, where only one wife is considered the real wife, the empress of the household while the others don't. The concubines usually provide pleasure while the real wife was the one fixed to marriage to the husband.

The Sociobiology of Polygyny

Amongst vertebrates, especially so with mammals, polygyny is probably the most common mating system. The likelihood that a species displays polygyny is increased when the following characteristics are present:

  • Sexual dimorphism, where (in comparison with females) males are:
    • more colourful
    • larger
    • more aggressive
    • better equipped for fighting
  • Uniparental care of the young (with males contributing less than females or nothing at all)
  • Delayed sexual maturity among males (relative to females of the same species, or to males of related species with different mating systems)

Some species show facultative polygamy, with males mating with multiple females only when resource conditions are favourable. Recent research on voles has identified the genetic difference that predisposes one species to polygyny and another closely related species to pair bonding. The brain hormone mechanisms through which this very slight genetic difference acts have also been identified; they involve the response to vasopressin and oxytocin.

Considered in relation to other primates, humans are moderately sexually dimorphic. A typical social group would be expected to consist of a male bonded to about three females. In reality, humans show much more flexibility in mating systems than many other animal species and almost every possible kind of mating system exists in some society. However, the prevalence of polygamy in human societies combined with the biological evidence suggests that it may be the most prevalent primitive form.

Partible Maternity

In polyandry, a child is considered to have more than one father. Here, a child is considered to have more than one mother. The Chinese family first had the child having up to four mothers, in the modern polygyny, an illegitimate child from the husband is to consider having two mothers: the legal wife who is the "big mother" and his/her biological mother.

Polygyny Around the World

Legal or otherwise, polygyny has been practiced in many countries around the world throughout history.

Russian societies

Ramzan Kadyrov, a militia leader and Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic, was quoted on radio saying that the depopulation of Chechnya by war justifies legalizing polygamy/polygyny.

“(Polygamy/Polygyny) is necessary for Chechnya, because we have war. We have more women than men...We must welcome (this idea) and spread (polygamy/polygyny) for the whole Russia because we have ten million lonely women.”

American and European societies

Greater China region/East Asian societies

Procreation, having offsprings, is the most important factor in Chinese socities and families. China has practised polygyny for thousands of years. Polygyny had been legal and was written in law right down to the end of the Qing dynasty/Ching dynasty of the imperial China(1911).

Confucianism has stress the ability of managing one's family of several wives. In the book of Great Learning (Daxue) wrote, "a man can first manage himself, then manage a family (of more than one set of wives & offsprings), then he can manage a small country, and then, he shall be able to unify and manage a nation." (格物、致知、誠意、正心、修身、齊家、治國、平天下 listed the 8 steps of learning and progress of the perfection of management skills from knowledge, oneself, one's family... to managing a nation.)

Emperors could have hundred to thousands of concubines. And subsequently rich officials and merchants could also have a number of concubines besides wife. The first wife is wife, others are concubines and have lower status than the wife. Offsprings from concubines did receive as much or even any fields/ wealth/ legacy from father.

Through the thousand years of Chinese History,the particular nature of Chinese men is distilled down to a saying in traditional Chinese folklore wisdom: "wife is not as good as concubine, concubine is not as good as prostitute, prostitute is not as good as secret affair..." (妻不如妾, 妾不如妓, 妓不如偷, 偷不如偷不到)*

The original wife is refer to as the 正室 (main room) both in China & Japan. 大婆 (big woman/big wive) is the slang term. Both indicate the orthodox nature & hierarchy.

The written word for the second woman (and literally mean who occupied the side room) is 側室. This word is also used in both China & Japan.
The everyday common terms referring to the second woman and the act of having the second woman respectively are 二奶 (er nai / yi nai) & 包二奶 (er nai cun / yi nai tsuen) . The terms have been widely used in the media. *

People's Republic of China (PRC)
In modern mainland China, polygamy is banned under the Marriage Law passed in 1951. Many senior communist leaders who had mistresses and concubines during the Long March were forced to disband them. Polygamy was seen as a characteristic of the bourgeoisie, who were purged.

A number of females become the secret lover or secret concubines of men from Hong Kong and Taiwan. (see below)

Cross-border polygyny is ever increasing between PRC, Hong Kong & ROC. The number of women becoming the secret second wive of Hong Kong & Taiwan richer men is ever increasing in Greater China region. Mansions and villages in China are now nicknamed 二奶村 (village of second woman) when a number of secret second wives live. *

In addition, many wealthy men in China now keep a second wife, or more mistresses, at separate residences. Although socially frowned upon, the practice has gained steam since the market-economic reforms.

Mongolia
There have been discussions about re-legalize polygamy due to the imbalance of male:female ratio.

Hong Kong and Macau
Polygyny was banned in 1971 October. However there are still people who are have multiple wives in Hong Kong and Macau presumeably married before the ban.

A famous example is Dr Stanley Ho who owned the Macau Casino Lisboa. He has 4 wives (plus one more lover). His uncle has 12 wives.

In Hong Kong, since work pressure is extremely high and birth rate is the lowest among the world, many Hong Kong businessmen tend to keep a secret concubine across the border in mainland China. One of the reason is that the cost of maintaining a second branch or division there in PRC is lower. Girls in mainland China are also more willing to be a full-time mother at a younger age. In a research paper of Berlin Humboldt University on sexiology, Doctor Man-Lun Ng quoted that the estimation of about 300 000 men have mistresses in China. In 1995, 40% of the extramarital affairs involved a stable partner International Herald TribuneKevin Murphy had reported the cross-border polygyny phenomenon in Hong Kong in 1995. [http://www.iht.com/articles/1995/02/07/lunar.php

Period drama exists and is performed to this day which to depicts the former culture of the polygamy(polygyny) practice. A famous example: one of the saga (The Deer and the Cauldron / The Duke of the Mount Deer) by Hong Kong famous writer Louis Cha (Jin Yung): he assigned 7 willing wives for the very capable leading role Wai-Siu-Bo (Wei-Shao-Bao) who is a successful double-spy good at office-politics and human-relationship. The fiction and subsequent films and television drama became immensely popular among Chinese societies across the world.

Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan
Polygyny is illegal. However, it is not uncommon for richer Taiwanese to have secret second lovers who become concubines not living in together with the wife. Taiwanese merchants, businessmens and workers are stationed in mainland China during work trips, and it is not unknown that they keep secret lovers or even "secret second branch" there.

Trends and Future of Polygyny in Greater China

The cross-border polygyny phenomenon between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China are likely to continue for some time.

Some of the perceived advantages of polygyny can be considered as a potential solutions to some of China's Problems. If it is assumed that men will have extra-marrital sex despite deterrents, polygyny can be seen as a way to help reduce the use of prostitutes and to minimize the risk of sexual diseases and AIDS. Some argue that using polygny to avoid the effort spent maintaining monogamy could be spent more wisely, and thus make society more productive.

China still has lots of under-nourished kids and illiterate citizens. Allowing richer men to legally sire more children through polygny could potentially raise the quality of life for more children.

Because of the effects of China's One-Child Policy combined with Chinese culture, there are fewer females in China. Large proportion of female babies/foetus are either aborted, killed, abandoned or adopted out of country. The dramatic imbalance of male-female population in China could lead to the posibility of polyandry in the near future. * A generalize polygamy format in a more open-minded civil partnership might be more suitable allowing polygyny or even polyandry leaving the choice to the need of the society and the people who can afford it.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Polygyny".

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