Societal Effects

In this chapter, we have limited our focus to the association between polygyny and fertility within marriage, at the individual level. The practice of polygyny may also have societal-level effects on fertility that may in fact be equally or more important than those on the individual level. We conclude by briefly considering these potential associations.

Two effects that we have considered on the individual level may work on the societal level to reduce fertility. First, a high frequency of polygyny, especially if it is associated with frequent marriage dissolution and remarriage

and multiple sexual partners, may increase the incidence of sexually transmitted disease, which is an important cause of sterility in many African populations (Adadevoh, 1974; Retel-Laurentin, 1974). We have little information, however, about whether the average number of sexual partners is higher in a traditional African population practicing polygyny than in societies in which polygyny is not socially sanctioned but multiple informal sexual unions are common, as in many non-African societies. Unless the number of sexual partners is greater, there is no reason to believe that the transmission rates will be higher in a polygynous marriage system.

A second factor that may operate in populations where polygyny is frequent is a stricter observance of postpartum sexual taboos by members of the population, regardless of the type of marriage they themselves are in. Societies in which polygyny is common may tend to have a greater control over the relations between husbands and wives, and may, therefore, practice postpartum abstinence to a greater degree.

There are also two aspects of polygynous marriage systems that are likely to increase the fertility of populations that practice polygyny. First, in order to maintain a high frequency of polygyny in a population, women must marry at relatively young ages. An alternative interpretation is that polygynous marriage systems are well designed for high fertility, since at least on an aggregate basis, all women have the chance of marrying as soon as they become fecund. In practice, the average age at which women marry in most African societies is delayed well beyond puberty. However, in populations with very high levels of polygyny, such as Senegal, the average age at marriage for women is relatively young, both for social and cultural reasons (Lesthaeghe, 1984), and because it would otherwise be difficult to maintain such a high frequency of polygyny, as the chapter by Goldman and Pebley in this volume shows.

A second and closely related aspect of polygynous marriage systems is that they permit divorced and widowed women to remarry quickly since, at least theoretically, all men are potential mates whether or not they are married. Thus, despite a high incidence of divorce and widowhood in many polygynous societies, relatively little of the fecund period is lost to marital dissolution.

Lesthaeghe (1984) carried out an aggregate-level analysis in which he investigated the association between these four societal-level effects and the frequency of polygyny. His analysis shows, in general, that all four of these effects seem to be operating. The frequency of polygyny appears to be positively associated, on an aggregate basis, with early female ages at marriage, rapid remarriage after marriage dissolution, longer observance of the postpartum sexual taboo, and higher rates of both sterility and subfecundity.

What is the net effect of these four factors, on a societal level, of a polygynous marriage system on fertility? Comparisons between monogamous

societies and those practicing frequent polygyny is difficult because of the large number of related and unrelated differences in social organization between these two populations with very different marriage systems. Pison (1986) provides one example: the marriage and fertility experience of Sahelian populations who have high and low frequencies of polygyny, based on data from Randall (1984). In Sahelian Africa, nomad populations are usually monogamous or practice polygyny only infrequently, whereas settled populations often have high frequencies of polygynous marriages. Pison argues that at least part of the reason for lower fertility among the nomads may be that they practice monogamy. For example, the total fertility rate of nomadic Touareg women in Mali is 6.6 children, whereas their settled Bambara neighbors, who practice polygyny, have a TFR of 8.1 children. However, the difference in fertility is due in large part to substantially lower exposure among Touareg women: had Touareg and Bambara women both been continuously married throughout their fecund years, the situation would have been reversed. The TFR would have been 10.1 for Touareg and 8.9 for Bambara women, respectively. While the differences in fertility between the two groups are unlikely to be related entirely to their marriage systems, this example suggests that, at least in the Sahel, the longer marital exposure associated with the greater chances for marriage in a polygynous marriage system may outweigh the potentially counterbalancing effects of increased subfecundity and longer birth spacing, which may also be associated with polygyny. Thus, to the extent that polygyny is associated with fertility, its effects on the individual level and the societal level may be quite different. On the individual level, polygyny appears to reduce fertility, though in most populations included in this analysis the difference is not statistically significant. However, at the societal level, a polygynous marriage system may contribute to the achievement of high fertility.