Marriage

====Polygyny====
{{Main|Polygyny}}
{{See also|Concubinage}}
Polygyny usually grants wives equal status, although the husband may have personal preferences. One type of de facto polygyny is [[concubinage]], where only one woman gets a wife's rights and status, while other women remain legal house mistresses.

Although a society may be classified as polygynous, not all marriages in it necessarily are; monogamous marriages may in fact predominate. It is to this flexibility that Anthropologist [[Robin Fox]] attributes its success as a social support system: "This has often meant – given the imbalance in the sex ratios, the higher male infant mortality, the shorter life span of males, the loss of males in wartime, etc. – that often women were left without financial support from husbands. To correct this condition, females had to be killed at birth, remain single, become prostitutes, or be siphoned off into celibate religious orders. Polygynous systems have the advantage that they can promise, as did the Mormons, a home and family for every woman."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law, and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=48}}</ref>

Nonetheless, polygyny is a gender issue which offers men asymmetrical benefits. In some cases, there is a large age discrepancy (as much as a generation) between a man and his youngest wife, compounding the power differential between the two. Tensions not only exist ''between'' genders, but also ''within'' genders; senior and junior men compete for wives, and senior and junior wives in the same household may experience radically different life conditions, and internal hierarchy. Several studies have suggested that the wive's relationship with other women, including co-wives and husband's female kin, are more critical relationships than that with her husband for her productive, reproductive and personal achievement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n131 125]–27}}</ref> In some societies, the co-wives are relatives, usually sisters, a practice called ''sororal polygyny''; the pre-existing relationship between the co-wives is thought to decrease potential tensions within the marriage.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9">{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n15 9]}}</ref>

Fox argues that "the major difference between polygyny and monogamy could be stated thus: while plural mating occurs in both systems, under polygyny several unions may be recognized as being legal marriages while under monogamy only one of the unions is so recognized. Often, however, it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the two."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=21}}</ref>

As polygamy in Africa is increasingly subject to legal limitations, a variant form of ''de facto'' (as opposed to legal or ''de jure'') polygyny is being practiced in urban centers. Although it does not involve multiple (now illegal) formal marriages, the domestic and personal arrangements follow old polygynous patterns. The de facto form of polygyny is found in other parts of the world as well (including some Mormon sects and Muslim families in the United States).<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n23 17], 89–107}}</ref>
In some societies such as the [[Lobedu people|Lovedu]] of South Africa, or the [[Nuer people|Nuer]] of the Sudan, aristocratic women may become female 'husbands.' In the Lovedu case, this female husband may take a number of polygamous wives. This is not a lesbian relationship, but a means of legitimately expanding a royal lineage by attaching these wives' children to it. The relationships are considered polygynous, not polyandrous, because the female husband is in fact assuming masculine gendered political roles.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9"/>

Religious groups have differing views on the legitimacy of [[polygyny]]. It is allowed in [[Islam]] and [[Confucianism]]. [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] have mentioned practices involving polygyny in the past, however, outright religious acceptance of such practices was not addressed until its rejection in later passages. They do explicitly prohibit polygyny today.