View source for Polygamy

{{Short description|Marriage to more than one spouse}}
{{Distinguish|Polygyny|Polyamory|Polysexuality}}
{{for-multi|polygamy in non-human animals|Animal sexual behaviour#Polygamy|polygamy in plants|Plant reproductive morphology|the racehorse|Polygamy (horse)}}{{Multiple issues|{{missing information|polygamy in history|date= December 2015}}
{{missing information|polygamy in the Eastern (Orthodox, Coptic, Assyrian) churches|date= July 2020}}}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Anthropology of kinship | concepts}}

'''Polygamy''' (from [[Late Greek]] {{lang|grc|πολυγαμία}} {{translit|grc|polygamía}}, "state of marriage to many spouses")<ref name="Harper">{{OEtymD|polygamy}} {{Cite web |url=http://etymonline.com/?term=Polygamy |title=Polygamy &#124; Etymology, origin and meaning of polygamy by etymonline |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=1 February 2016 |archive-url=https://timetravel.mementoweb.org/memento/20160201154242/etymonline.com/?term=Polygamy |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|polugami/a|πολυγαμία|ref}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |work= Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek | title= πολυγαμία | url= http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?lq=πολυγαμία | publisher= [[Center for the Greek Language]] | language= el |url-status= live | archive-url= https://archive.today/20160201152346/http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?lq=%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%AF%CE%B1 | archive-date= 1 February 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title= Dictionary of Modern Greek | language= el | first= Georgios | last= Babiniotis | author-link= Georgios Babiniotis | chapter= s.v. πολυγαμία | publisher = Lexicology Centre | year= 2002 |title-link= Babiniotis dictionary }}</ref> is the practice of [[marriage|marry]]ing multiple [[spouse]]s. When a [[man]] is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called [[polygyny]]. When a [[woman]] is married to more than one husband at the same time, it is called [[polyandry]]. In [[sociobiology]] and [[zoology]], researchers use ''polygamy'' in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple [[mating]].

In contrast to polygamy, [[monogamy]] is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a ''[[de facto]]'' sense, applied regardless of whether a [[State (polity)|state]] recognizes the relationship.<ref group="note">For the extent to which states can and do recognize potentially and actual polygamous forms as valid, see [[Conflict of marriage laws]].</ref>  In many countries, the law only recognises monogamous marriages (a person can only have one spouse, and [[bigamy]] is illegal), but [[adultery]] is not illegal, leading to a situation of ''de facto'' polygamy being allowed without legal recognition for non-official "spouses".

Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw polygamy. In societies which allow or tolerate polygamy, polygyny is the accepted form in the vast majority of cases. According to the [[Human Relations Area Files|''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook'']], of 1,231 societies noted from 1960 to 1980, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous, and 4 had polyandry<ref name="Atlas">[http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook''] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121118232413/http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf |date= 18 November 2012 }} derived from George P. Murdock's ''Ethnographic Atlas'' recording the marital composition of 1231 societies from 1960 to 1980</ref>{{snd}}although more recent research found some form of polyandry in 53 communities, which is more common than previously thought.<ref name="Starkweather2012">{{cite journal|last1=Starkweather |first1=Katherine |first2=Raymond |last2=Hames |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?context=anthropologyfacpub&article=1049#page=2 |title=A Survey of Non‑Classical Polyandry |journal=Human Nature |year=2012 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=149–72 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925140949/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?context=anthropologyfacpub&article=1049 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=live |doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x |pmid=22688804 |s2cid=2008559 |issn=1045-6767 |eissn=1936-4776 |oclc=879353439 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In cultures which practice polygamy, its prevalence among that population often correlates with [[social class]] and socioeconomic status.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303252577|title= Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies|first= Casey|last= Golomski|date= 6 January 2016|via= ResearchGate|access-date= 17 February 2019|archive-date= 28 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085751/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303252577_Polygamy_Polygyny_and_Polyandry_Wiley_Blackwell_Encyclopedia_of_Gender_and_Sexuality_Studies_Nancy_Naples_et_al_ed_Malden_MA_John_Wiley_Sons|url-status= live}}</ref> Polygamy (taking the form of polygyny) is most common in a region known as the "polygamy belt" in [[West Africa]] and [[Central Africa]], with the countries estimated to have the highest polygamy prevalence in the world being [[Burkina Faso]], [[Mali]], [[Gambia]], [[Niger]] and [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Stephanie |last=Kramer |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/ |title=Polygamy is rare around the world |website=[[Pew Research Center]] |date=2020-12-07 |access-date=2022-02-14 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407072545/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

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==Biological and social distinctions==
The term "polygamy" may be referring to one of various relational types, depending upon context. Four overlapping definitions can be adapted from the work of Ulrich Reichard and others:<ref name="Reichard, 2003">{{cite book |first1=Ulrich H. |last1=Reichard |chapter=Monogamy: past and present |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIu2K6KFsXEC&pg=PA3 |pages=3–25 |year=2003 |editor1-first=Ulrich H. |editor1-last=Reichard |editor2-first=Christophe |editor2-last=Boesch |title=Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52577-0 |access-date=2016-01-05 |archive-date=2016-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603161358/https://books.google.com/books?id=zIu2K6KFsXEC&pg=PA3 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''Marital polygamy'' occurs when an individual is married to more than one person. The other spouses may or may not be married to one another.
* ''Social polygamy'' occurs when an individual has multiple partners that they live with, have sex with, and cooperate with in acquiring basic resources (such as shelter, food and money).
* ''Sexual polygamy'' refers to individuals who have more than one sexual partner or who have sex partners outside of a primary relationship.
* ''Genetic polygamy'' refers to sexual relationships that result in children who have genetic evidence of different [[Paternity (law)|paternity]].

[[Biologist]]s, [[biological anthropologist]]s, and [[behavioral ecologist]]s often use ''polygamy'' in the sense of a lack of sexual or genetic (reproductive) exclusivity.<ref name="Low, 2003">Low B.S. (2003) [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bobbi_Low/publication/237010580_Ecological_and_social_complexities_in_human_monogamy/links/0deec51ae3e528b821000000.pdf Ecological and social complexities in human monogamy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713201500/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bobbi_Low/publication/237010580_Ecological_and_social_complexities_in_human_monogamy/links/0deec51ae3e528b821000000.pdf |date=2018-07-13 }}. Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals:161–176.</ref> When cultural or social [[anthropologist]]s and other [[social scientists]] use the term polygamy, the meaning is social or marital polygamy.<ref name="Low, 2003"/><ref name="Reichard, 2003"/>

In contrast, marital monogamy may be distinguished between:
# ''classical monogamy'', "a single relationship between people who marry as [[Virginity|virgins]], remain sexually exclusive their entire lives, and become [[Celibacy|celibate]] upon the death of the partner"<ref name="Sheff" />
# [[#Serial monogamy|''serial monogamy'']], marriage with only one other person at a time, in contrast to [[bigamy]] or polygamy<ref name="BRIT">Cf. "Monogamy" in ''Britannica World Language Dictionary'', R.C. Preble (ed.), Oxford-London 1962, p. 1275:''1. The practice or principle of marrying only once. opp. to digamy now ''rare'' 2. The condition, rule or custom of being married to only one [[person]] at a time (opp. to polygamy or bigamy) 1708. 3. [[Zoology|Zool.]] The habit of living in pairs, or having only one mate''; The same text repeats ''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', W. Little, H.W. Fowler, J. Coulson (ed.), C.T. Onions (rev. & ed.,) Oxford 1969, 3rd edition, vol.1, p.1275; [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00314586 OED Online]. March 2010. Oxford University Press. 23 Jun. 2010 Cf. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monogamy Monogamy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623232650/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monogamy |date=2015-06-23 }} in Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref> Some definitions of serial monogamy consider it to be polygamy, as it can result in evidence of genetic polygamy. It can also be considered polygamy for anthropological reasons.

Outside of the legal sphere, defining polygamy can be difficult because of differences in cultural assumptions regarding monogamy. Some societies believe that monogamy requires limiting sexual activity to a single partner for life.<ref name="Sheff">{{cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201407/seven-forms-non-monogamy|author=Sheff, Elisabeth|title=Seven Forms of Non-Monogamy|date=July 22, 2014|website=Psychology Today}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Kramer | first1=Karen L. | last2=Russell | first2=Andrew F. | title=Kin-selected cooperation without lifetime monogamy: human insights and animal implications | journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=29 | issue=11 | year=2014 | issn=0169-5347 | doi=10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.001 | pages=600–606| pmid=25267298 | bibcode=2014TEcoE..29..600K }}</ref> Others accept or endorse pre-marital sex prior to marriage.<ref>{{citation | last=Schacht | first=Ryan N. | title=Cassava and the Makushi: A Shared History of Resiliency and Transformation | publisher=Bloomsbury, T&T Clark | year=2013 | pages=15–30 | doi=10.5040/9781350042162.ch-001| isbn=9781350042162 }}</ref> Some societies consider sex outside of marriage<ref>{{cite book | last1=Beckerman | first1=Stephen | last2=Valentine | first2=Paul | title=Cultures of Multiple Fathers | date=2002 | publisher=University Press of Florida | isbn=0-8130-2456-0}}</ref> or "spouse swapping"<ref>{{cite journal | last=Hennigh | first=Lawrence | title=Functions and Limitations of Alaskan Eskimo Wife Trading | journal=Arctic | publisher=The Arctic Institute of North America | volume=23 | issue=1 | date=1970-01-01 | issn=1923-1245 | doi=10.14430/arctic3151| doi-access=free }}</ref> to be socially acceptable. Some consider a relationship monogamous even if partners separate and move to a new monogamous relationship through death, divorce, or simple dissolution of the relationship, regardless of the length of the relationship (serial monogamy).<ref name="Schacht">{{cite journal |title=Are We Monogamous? A Review of the Evolution of Pair-Bonding in Humans and Its Contemporary Variation Cross-Culturally |journal=Front. Ecol. Evol. |date=2019-07-19 |last1=Schacht |first1=Ryan |last2=Kramer |first2=Karen |volume=7 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2019.00230 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Anthropologists characterize human beings as “mildly polygynous” or “monogamous with polygynous tendencies.”<ref name="pmid19403194">{{cite journal | last1=Brown | first1=Gillian R. | last2=Laland | first2=Kevin N. | last3=Mulder | first3=Monique Borgerhoff | title=Bateman's principles and human sex roles | journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=24 | issue=6 | year=2009 | issn=0169-5347 | doi=10.1016/j.tree.2009.02.005 | pages=297–304| pmid=19403194 | pmc=3096780 | bibcode=2009TEcoE..24..297B | s2cid=5935377 }}</ref><ref name="Frost">{{cite journal | last=Frost | first=Peter | title=Sexual selection and human geographic variation. | journal=Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology | publisher=American Psychological Association (APA) | volume=2 | issue=4 | year=2008 | issn=1933-5377 | doi=10.1037/h0099346 | pages=169–191| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Low">{{cite book | last=Low | first=Bobbi S. | title=Why Sex Matters | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=2015-01-04 | isbn=978-0-691-16388-8}}</ref><ref name="Scheidel">{{cite journal | last=Scheidel | first=Walter | title=Monogamy and Polygyny in Greece, Rome, and World History | journal=SSRN Electronic Journal | publisher=Elsevier BV | year=2008 | issn=1556-5068 | doi=10.2139/ssrn.1214729}}</ref>  The average pre-historic man with modern descendants appears to have had children with between 1.5 women (70,000 years ago) to 3.3 women (45,000 years ago), except in East Asia.<ref name="pmid25254093">{{cite journal | last1=Lippold | first1=Sebastian | last2=Xu | first2=Hongyang | last3=Ko | first3=Albert | last4=Li | first4=Mingkun | last5=Renaud | first5=Gabriel | last6=Butthof | first6=Anne | last7=Schröder | first7=Roland | last8=Stoneking | first8=Mark | title=Human paternal and maternal demographic histories: insights from high-resolution Y chromosome and mtDNA sequences | journal=Investigative Genetics | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=5 | issue=1 | date=2014-09-24 | page=13 | issn=2041-2223 | doi=10.1186/2041-2223-5-13| pmid=25254093 | pmc=4174254 | s2cid=16464327 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Sample | first=Ian | title=More women than men have added their DNA to the human gene pool | website=the Guardian | date=2014-09-24 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/24/women-men-dna-human-gene-pool | access-date=2023-06-30 | archive-date=30 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630220104/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/24/women-men-dna-human-gene-pool | url-status=live }}</ref> While the forms of non-monogamy in prehistorical times is unknown, these rates could be consistent with a society that practices serial monogamy. Anthropological observations indicate that even when polygyny is accepted in the community, the majority of relationships in the society are monogamous in practice – while couples remain in the relationship, which may not be lifelong.<ref name="Schacht" /> Thus, in many historical communities, serial monogamy may have been the accepted practice rather than a lifelong monogamous bond.<ref name="Schacht" /> The genetic record indicates that monogamy increased within the last 5,000-10,000 years,<ref name="pmid12962309">{{cite journal |last1=Dupanloup |first1=Isabelle |last2=Pereira |first2=Luisa |last3=Bertorelle |first3=Giorgio |last4=Calafell |first4=Francesc |last5=Prata |first5=Maria |last6=Amorim |first6=Antonio |last7=Barbujani |first7=Guido |display-authors=etal |title=A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity. |journal=J Mol Evol |year=2003 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=85–97 |pmid=12962309 |doi=10.1007/s00239-003-2458-x |pmc= |bibcode=2003JMolE..57...85D |s2cid=2673314 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12962309 |access-date=28 August 2023 |archive-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528105252/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12962309/ |url-status=live }}</ref> a period associated with the development of human agriculture, non-communal land ownership, and inheritance.<ref name="Goody" />

==Forms==
Polygamy exists in three specific forms:
* [[Polygyny]], where a man has multiple simultaneous wives
* [[Polyandry]], where a woman has multiple simultaneous husbands
* [[Group marriage]], where the family unit consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives of legal age

===Polygyny===
{{main|Polygyny}}

[[File:Polygyny (bold, color).svg|frameless|right]]

====Incidence====
{{main|Legal status of polygamy}}
[[File:Prince Manga Bell and favorite wives.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|alt=Postcard photo of Prince Manga Bell seated for portrait with four women nearby, possibly late-19th century style|Prince [[Manga Ndumbe Bell]] and favorite wives]]

Polygyny, the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time, is by far the most common form of polygamy. Many{{quantify|date=February 2019}}{{which|date=March 2022}} [[Muslim-majority countries]] and some countries with sizable Muslim minorities [[Polygyny in Islam|accept polygyny]] to varying extents both legally and culturally. In several countries, such as [[Polygyny in India|India]], the law only recognizes polygamous marriages for the Muslim population. [[Sharia|Islamic law]] or ''sharia'' is a [[religious law]] forming part of the [[Islam]]ic tradition which allows polygyny.<ref name=oxforddic>{{cite web |title=British & World English: sharia |url=https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sharia |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=4 December 2015 |location=Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208120345/https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sharia |archive-date=8 December 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/religion/islam|title=Islam|website=HISTORY|date=20 August 2019|language=en|access-date=2020-01-24|archive-date=3 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503051151/https://www.history.com/topics/religion/islam|url-status=live}}</ref> It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the [[Quran]] and the [[hadith]]. In [[Arabic language|Arabic]], the term ''sharīʿah'' refers to [[God in Islam|God]]'s ([[Arabic]]: الله [[Allāh]]) immutable [[divine law]] and is contrasted with ''[[fiqh]]'', which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.<ref name=ODI>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Islamic Law |editor=John L. Esposito |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t125/e1107 |access-date=29 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331154513/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t125/e1107 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Knut S. |last=Vikør |title=Sharīʿah |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor=Emad El-Din Shahin |year=2014 |url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604214623/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226 |archive-date=4 June 2014 |url-status=dead |accessdate=9 February 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Norman |last=Calder |title=Law. Legal Thought and Jurisprudence |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |editor=John L. Esposito |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2009 |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473 |access-date=9 February 2023 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731040109/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Polygyny is more widespread in [[Africa]] than on any other continent,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IOAAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston |page=17 |isbn=9780810102705 |title=Many Wives, Many Powers: Authority and Power in Polygynous Families |year=1970 |access-date=23 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404115521/https://books.google.com/books?id=-IOAAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=African polygamy: Past and present|url=https://voxeu.org/article/african-polygamy-past-and-present|last=Fenske|first=James|date=2013-11-09|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=2020-05-28|archive-date=18 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918162059/https://voxeu.org/article/african-polygamy-past-and-present|url-status=live}}</ref> especially in [[West Africa]], and some scholars see the [[Slave Trade|slave trade]]'s impact on the male-to-female sex ratio as a key factor in the emergence and fortification of polygynous practices in regions of Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Henrich|first1=Joseph|last2=Boyd|first2=Robert|last3=Richerson|first3=Peter J.|date=2012-03-05|title=The puzzle of monogamous marriage|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|language=en|volume=367|issue=1589|pages=657–669|doi=10.1098/rstb.2011.0290|issn=0962-8436|pmc=3260845|pmid=22271782}}</ref> In the region of [[sub-Saharan Africa]], polygyny is common and deeply rooted in the culture, with 11% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa living in such marriages (25% of the Muslim population and 3% of the Christian population, as of 2019).<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/|title=Polygamy is rare around the world and mostly confined to a few regions|first=Stephanie|last=Kramer|date=7 December 2020 |access-date=6 September 2021|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407072545/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Pew, polygamy is widespread in a cluster of countries in West and Central Africa, including Burkina Faso, (36%), Mali (34%) and Nigeria (28%).<ref name="auto"/>

Anthropologist [[Jack Goody]]'s comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]] demonstrated a historical correlation between the practice of extensive [[Shifting cultivation|shifting horticulture]] and polygamy in the majority of sub-Saharan African societies.<ref name="Goody" /> Drawing on the work of [[Ester Boserup]], Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies between the male-dominated intensive [[Plough agriculture|plough-agriculture]] common in Eurasia and the extensive shifting horticulture found in sub-Saharan Africa. In some of the sparsely populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, women do much of the work. This favours polygamous marriages in which men seek to monopolize the production of women "who are valued both as workers and as child bearers". Goody however, observes that the correlation is imperfect and varied, and also discusses more traditionally male-dominated though relatively extensive farming systems such as those traditionally common in much of West Africa, especially in the West African [[savanna]], where more agricultural work is done by men, and where polygyny is desired by men more for the generation of male offspring whose labor is valued.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621697.014|doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511621697.014|chapter = Polygyny, Economy and the Role of Women|title = The Character of Kinship|year = 1974|last1 = Goody|first1 = Jack |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages = 175–190|isbn = 9780521202909}}</ref>

Anthropologists Douglas R. White and Michael L. Burton discuss and support Jack Goody's observation regarding African male farming systems in "Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare"<ref name="White & Burton 1988">{{cite journal|last1=White|first1=Douglas|last2=Burton|first2=Michael|title=Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=90|issue=4|date=December 1988|pages=871–887|doi=10.1525/aa.1988.90.4.02a00060|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0468q4xq|access-date=12 December 2021|archive-date=3 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903145915/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0468q4xq|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|884}} where these authors note:

{{blockquote|Goody (1973) argues against the female contributions hypothesis. He notes Dorjahn's (1959) comparison of East and West Africa, showing higher female agricultural contributions in East Africa and higher polygyny rates in West Africa, especially the West African savanna, where one finds especially high male agricultural contributions. Goody says, "The reasons behind polygyny are sexual and reproductive rather than economic and productive" (1973:189), arguing that men marry polygynously to maximize their fertility and to obtain large households containing many young dependent males.<ref name="White & Burton 1988"/>{{rp|873}}}}

[[File:Kwong Sue Duk with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904 (9623512597).jpg|thumb|Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, [[Cairns]], 1904]] 
An analysis by James Fenske (2012) found that child mortality and ecologically related economic shocks had a significant association with rates of polygamy in sub-Saharan Africa, rather than female agricultural contributions (which are typically relatively small in the West African savanna and sahel, where polygyny rates are higher), finding that polygyny rates decrease significantly with child mortality rates.<ref>{{Cite web  | last = Fenske  | first = James  | title = African polygamy: past and present  | url = https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/12544/csae-wps-2012-20.pdf  | publisher = Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford  | pages = 1–30  | date = November 2012  | access-date = 27 September 2019  | archive-date = 22 September 2017  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170922005828/https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/12544/csae-wps-2012-20.pdf  | url-status = dead  }}</ref>

==== Types of polygyny ====
Polygynous marriages fall into two types: ''sororal polygyny'', in which the co-wives are sisters, and ''non-sororal'', where the co-wives are not related. Polygyny offers husbands the benefit of allowing them to have more children, may provide them with a larger number of productive workers (where workers are family), and allows them to establish politically useful ties with a greater number of [[kin group]]s.<ref name="Zeitzen"/> Senior wives can benefit as well when the addition of junior wives to the family lightens their [[workload]]. Wives', especially senior wives', status in a community can increase through the addition of other wives, who add to the family's prosperity or symbolize conspicuous consumption (much as a large house, domestic help, or expensive vacations operate in a [[Western world|western country]]). For such reasons, senior wives sometimes work hard or contribute from their own resources to enable their husbands to accumulate the [[bride price]] for an extra wife.<ref name=lee>{{cite book|title= Family Structure and Interaction: A Comparative Analysis|author= Lee, Gary R.|chapter= Structural Variety in Marriage|pages= 92–93|edition= 2nd, revised|publisher= University of Minnesota Press|date= 1982}}</ref>

Polygyny may also result from the practice of [[levirate marriage]]. In such cases, the deceased man's heir may inherit his assets and wife; or, more usually, his brothers may marry the widow. This provides support for the widow and her children (usually also members of the brothers' kin group) and maintains the tie between the husbands' and wives' kin groups. The [[Sororate marriage|sororate]] resembles the levirate, in that a widower must marry the sister of his dead wife. The family of the late wife, in other words, must provide a replacement for her, thus maintaining the marriage alliance. Both levirate and sororate may result in a man having multiple wives.<ref name="Zeitzen"/>
[[File:Chef de village et ses femmes (Guinée).jpg|thumb|Village chief and his wives in Guinea, c. 1910]]

In monogamous societies, wealthy and powerful men may establish enduring relationships with, and established separate household for, multiple female partners, aside from their legitimate wives; a practice accepted in Imperial China up until the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912). This constitutes a form of ''[[wikt:de facto#Adjective|de&nbsp;facto]]'' polygyny referred to as ''[[concubinage]]''.<ref>
{{cite book
 |title= Households: Comparative and Historical Studies of the Domestic Group
 |year= 1984 |publisher= University of California Press
 |location= Berkeley |pages= 393–395
 |last= Herlihy |first= David
 |editor1-first= Robert |editor1-last= McNetting
 |editor2-first= Richard |editor2-last= Will
 |editor3-first= Eric |editor3-last= Arnould
}}
</ref>

====Household organization====
Marriage is the moment at which a new household is formed, but different arrangements may occur depending upon the type of marriage and some polygamous marriages do not result in the formation of a single household. In many polygynous marriages the husband's wives may live in separate households.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Baloyi|first=Elijah M.|date=August 2013|title=Critical reflections on polygamy in the African Christian context|url=https://missionalia.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/12|journal=Missionalia|volume=41|issue=2|pages=164–181|doi=10.7832/41-2-12|issn=0256-9507|doi-access=free|hdl=10500/29386|hdl-access=free|access-date=26 August 2021|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727152047/https://missionalia.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/12|url-status=live}}</ref> They can thus be described as a "series of linked nuclear families with a 'father' in common".<ref>{{cite book |last=Fox |first=Robin |title=Kinship and Marriage |url=https://archive.org/details/kinshipmarriage00foxr |url-access=registration |year=1967 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, UK |page=[https://archive.org/details/kinshipmarriage00foxr/page/39 39]}}</ref>

===Polyandry===
[[File:Polyandry (bold, color).svg|frameless|right]]

====Incidence====
{{Main|Polyandry}}
Polyandry, the practice of a woman having more than one husband at one time, is much less prevalent than polygyny. It is specifically provided in the legal codes of some countries, such as [[Gabon]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Gabon | url=http://genderindex.org/country/gabon | publisher=Social Institutions & Gender Index, genderindex.org | date=2007 | access-date=2009-04-27 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619172233/http://genderindex.org/country/gabon | archive-date=2010-06-19 }}</ref>

Polyandry is believed to be more common in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival.<ref name=Stone2006>{{cite book |first=Linda |last=Stone |title=Kinship and Gender |year=2006 |publisher=Westview |isbn=9780813348629 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjRWDgAAQBAJ }}</ref> It is a rare form of marriage that exists not only among poor families, but also the elite.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://case.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/pahari.html |jstor=3773200 |title=Pahari and Tibetan Polyandry Revisited |last1=Goldstein |first1=Melvyn C. |journal=Ethnology |year=1978 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=325–337 |doi=10.2307/3773200 |access-date=26 August 2021 |archive-date=26 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826162501/https://case.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/pahari.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> For example, in the Himalayan Mountains polyandry is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife allows family land to remain intact and undivided.<ref name="Starkweather2012" /> If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this outcome was avoided through the social practice of [[Historical inheritance systems|impartible inheritance]], under which most siblings would be disinherited.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levine |first=Nancy |title=The Dynamics of polyandry: kinship, domesticity, and population on the Tibetan border |year=1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago}}</ref>

====Types====
''Fraternal polyandry'' was traditionally practiced among [[nomad]]ic [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]] in [[Nepal]], parts of [[China]] and part of northern India, in which two or more brothers would marry the same woman. It is most common in societies marked by high male mortality. It is associated with ''[[partible paternity]]'', the  cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.<ref name="Starkweather2012" />

''Non-fraternal polyandry'' occurs when the wives' husbands are unrelated, as among the [[Velakkathala Nair|Nayar tribe of India]], where girls undergo a ritual marriage before puberty,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Levine |first1=Nancy E. |last2=Silk |first2=Joan B. |date=1997 |title=Why Polyandry Fails: Sources of Instability in Polyandrous Marriages |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/204624 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=375–398 |doi=10.1086/204624 |jstor=10.1086/204624 |s2cid=17048791 |issn=0011-3204 |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530062802/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/204624 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and the first husband is acknowledged as the father of all her children. However, the woman may never cohabit with that man, taking multiple lovers instead; these men must acknowledge the paternity of their children (and hence demonstrate that no [[Caste system in India|caste]] prohibitions have been breached) by paying the [[midwife]]. The women remain in their maternal home, living with their brothers, and property is passed [[matrilineally]].<ref name="Gough">{{Cite journal |last=Gough |first=E. Kathleen |title=The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage |journal=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |year=1959 |volume=89|issue=1 |pages=23–34|doi=10.2307/2844434|jstor=2844434 }}</ref> A similar form of matrilineal, de facto polyandry can be found in the institution of [[walking marriage]] among the [[Mosuo women|Mosuo]] tribe of China.

===Serial monogamy===
[[Serial monogamy]] refers to remarriage after divorce or death of a spouse from a monogamous marriage, i.e. multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time (a series of monogamous relationships).<ref name="Helen Fisher">{{cite book |last=Fisher |first=Helen |publisher=Ballantine Books |title=The First Sex |pages=[https://archive.org/details/firstsexnatur00fish/page/271 271–72, 276] |isbn=978-0-449-91260-7 |year=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/firstsexnatur00fish/page/271 }}</ref>

According to Danish scholar Miriam K. Zeitzen, anthropologists treat [[serial monogamy]], in which divorce and remarriage occur, as a form of polygamy as it also can establish a series of households that may continue to be tied by shared paternity and shared income.<ref name="Zeitzen">{{cite book |last=Zeitzen |first=Miriam Koktvedgaard |title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis |year=2008 |publisher=Berg |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84520-220-0}}</ref> As such, they are similar to the household formations created through divorce and serial monogamy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=FALEN|first=DOUGLAS J.|date=2009-10-23|title=Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis by Zeitzen, Miriam Koktvedgaard|journal=Social Anthropology|volume=17|issue=4|pages=510–511|doi=10.1111/j.1469-8676.2009.00088_20.x|issn=0964-0282}}</ref>

Serial monogamy creates a new kind of relative, the "ex-".<ref>For a popular press angle, see e.g. Rosie Wilby, ''Is Monogamy Dead?: Rethinking Relationships in the 21st Century'' (Cardiff: Accent Press, 2017), 107. {{ISBN|9781786154521}}. For deeper, scholarly analysis, see e.g. David Silverman, "The Construction of 'Delicate' Objects in Counselling", in ed. Margaret Wetherell et al., ''Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader'' (London: Sage, 2001), 123–27. {{ISBN|9780761971566}}</ref> The "ex-wife", for example, can remain an active part of her "ex-husband's" life, as they may be tied together by legally or informally mandated economic support, which can last for years, including by [[alimony]], [[child support]], and [[joint custody]]. Bob Simpson, the British social anthropologist, notes that it creates an "extended family" by tying together a number of households, including mobile children. He says that Britons may have ex‑wives or ex‑brothers‑in‑law, but not an ''ex‑child''. According to him, these "unclear families" do not fit the mold of the monogamous nuclear family.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Bob |title=Changing Families: An Ethnographic Approach to Divorce and Separation |year=1998 |publisher=Berg |location=Oxford}}</ref>

===Group marriage===
{{Main|Group marriage}}
Group marriage is a [[Non-monogamy|non-monogamous]] [[marriage]]-like arrangement where three or more adults live together, all considering themselves partners, sharing finances, children, and household responsibilities. [[Polyamory]] is on a continuum of family-bonds that includes group marriage.<ref>"Polyamory", in Robert T. Francoeur and Raymond J. Noonan, eds., ''The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality'' (London: A&C Black, 2004), 1205. {{ISBN|9780826414885}}</ref> The term does not refer to [[bigamy]] as no claim to being married in formal legal terms is made.<ref>{{cite book |last=Constantine |first=Larry L. |title=Group Marriage: A Study of Contemporary Multilateral Marriage |year=1974 |publisher=Collier Books |isbn=978-0020759102}}</ref>

==Scientific and prehistorical perspectives==
Scientific studies classify humans as "mildly polygynous" or "monogamous with polygynous tendencies."<ref name="pmid19403194" /><ref name="Frost" /><ref name="Low" /><ref name="Scheidel" /> As mentioned above, data from 1960 to 1980 in the [[Human Relations Area Files|''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook'']] indicated that polygamy was common.<ref>Murdock GP (1981) ''Atlas of World Cultures''. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press</ref> A separate 1988 review examined the practices of 849 societies from before Western imperialism and colonization. The review found that 708 of the societies (83%) accepted polygyny. Only 16% were monogamous and 1% polyandrous.<ref name="Rethinking">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Douglas |last2=Betzig |first2=Laura |author-link2=Laura Betzig|last3=Mulder |first3=Monique |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743506 |title=Rethinking Polygyny: Co-Wives, Codes, and Cultural Systems [and Comments and Reply] |work=Current Anthropology |date=1988-08-01 |jstor=2743506 |accessdate=2023-06-28 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628222332/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743506 |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequent evidence in 2012 found that polyandry (in which women have multiple male partners) was likely in pre-history; it also identified 53 communities studied between 1912 and 2010 with either formal or informal polyandry, indicating that polyandry was more common worldwide than previously believed. The authors found that polyandry was most common in egalitarian societies, and suspected contributors to polyandry included fewer men (due to the existence or threat of high adult male mortality or absence/travel) and higher male contributions towards food production.<ref name="Starkweather2012" /> Polyandry still appears to occur in the minority of societies. Regardless of the type of polygamy, even when polygyny is accepted in the community, the majority of relationships in the society are monogamous in practice – while couples remain in the relationship, which may not be lifelong.<ref name="Schacht" /> In many historical communities, serial monogamy may have been the accepted practice rather than a lifelong monogamous bond. How monogamy is defined when it comes to accepted sexual activity outside of the relationship, however, may differ by society.<ref name="Schacht" />

Recent anthropological data suggest that the modern concept of life-long monogamy has been in place for only the last 1,000 years.<ref>{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/science/monogamys-boost-to-human-evolution.html |title=Monogamy and Human Evolution |work=The New York Times |location=New York |date=2013-08-02 |accessdate=2023-06-28 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628222331/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/science/monogamys-boost-to-human-evolution.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Genetic evidence has demonstrated that a greater proportion of men began contributing to the genetic pool between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, which suggests that reproductive monogamy became more common at that time.<ref name="pmid12962309" /> This would correspond to the Neolithic agricultural revolution. During this time, formerly nomadic societies began to claim and settle land for farming, leading to the advent of property ownership and therefore inheritance. Men would therefore seek to ensure that their land would go to direct descendants and had a vested interest in limiting the sexual activities of their reproductive partners. It is possible that the concept of marriage and permanent monogamy evolved at this time.<ref name="Goody">{{cite book |last1=Goody |first1=Jack |title=Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1976}}</ref>

Other scientific arguments for monogamy prior to 2003 were based on characteristics of reproductive physiology, such as sperm competition,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Anderson | first1 = M. J. | last2 = Dixson | first2 = A. F. | year = 2002 | title = Sperm competition: motility and the midpiece in primates | journal = Nature | volume = 416 | issue = 6880 | page = 496 | doi=10.1038/416496a | pmid = 11932733 | bibcode = 2002Natur.416..496A | s2cid = 4388134 | doi-access = free }}</ref> sexual selection in primates,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dixson | first1 = A. L. | last2 = Anderson | first2 = M. J. | year = 2002 | title = Sexual selection, seminal coagulation and copulatory plug formation in primates | journal = Folia Primatol | volume = 73 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 63–69 | doi= 10.1159/000064784| pmid = 12207054 | s2cid = 46804812 }}</ref> and body size characteristics.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Harcourt | first1 = A. H. | last2 = Harvey | first2 = P. H. | last3 = Larson | first3 = S. G. | last4 = Short | first4 = RV | year = 1981 | title = Testis weight, body weight and breeding system in primates | journal = Nature | volume = 293 | issue = 5827 | pages = 55–57 | doi= 10.1038/293055a0 | pmid = 7266658 | bibcode = 1981Natur.293...55H | s2cid = 22902112}}</ref> A 2019 synthesis of these and other data found that the weight of the evidence supports a mating bond that may include polygyny or polyandry, but is most likely to be predominantly serial monogamy.<ref name="Schacht" />

More recent genetic data has clarified that, in most regions throughout history, a smaller proportion of men contributed to human genetic history compared to women.<ref name="pmid12962309" /><ref name="pmid15317874">{{cite journal| last1=Wilder |first1=Jason | last2=Mobasher |first2=Zahra | last3=Hammer | first3=Michael| title=Genetic evidence for unequal effective population sizes of human females and males. | journal=Mol Biol Evol | year= 2004 | volume= 21 | issue= 11 | pages= 2047–57 | pmid=15317874 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msh214 | pmc= | doi-access=free }}</ref> Assuming an equal number of men and women are born and survive to reproduce, this would indicate that historically, only a subset of men fathered children and did so with multiple women (and may suggest that many men either did not procreate or did not have children that survived to create modern ancestors). This circumstance could occur for several reasons, but there are three common interpretations:
# The first interpretation is a harem model, where one man will out-compete other men (presumably through acts of violence or power) for exclusive sexual access to a group of women. Groups of women could be related or unrelated. This does not seem to reflect real-world observations in more modern polygyny societies, where the majority of individuals seldom have more than one partner at a time.<ref name="Schacht" />
# Second, it may suggest that some men had either more sex or more reproductive success with multiple women simultaneously; this could be caused by sexual liaisons outside of a lifelong "monogamous" relationship (which may or may not be acceptable in their society), having multiple committed partners at once (polygyny), or simply sexual reproduction with multiple partners entirely outside of committed relationships (i.e., casual sex without relationships or pair-bonding).
# Third, it may suggest that some men were more likely than other men to have a series of monogamous relationships that led to children with different women throughout the man's life (serial monogamy).<ref name="Schacht" /> There are a variety of explanations for this that range from the woman's decisions (the man's perceived attractiveness or ability to produce food) to the man's (social or coercive power).

The serial monogamy interpretation of genetic history would be congruent with other findings, such as the fact that humans form pair bonds (although not necessarily for life) and that human fathers invest in at least the early upbringing of their children.<ref name="Schacht" /> Serial monogamy would also be consistent with the existence of a "honeymoon period", a period of intense interest in a single sexual partner (with less interest in other women) which may help to keep men invested in staying with the mother of their child for this period.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fletcher |first1=Garth |last2=Simpson |first2=Jeffry |last3=Campbell |first3=Lorne |last4=Overall |first4=Nickola |author-link4=Nickola Overall |date=2015-01-01 |title=Pair-Bonding, Romantic Love, and Evolution: The Curious Case of "Homo sapiens" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44281912 |url-status=live |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=20–36 |doi=10.1177/1745691614561683 |jstor=44281912 |pmid=25910380 |s2cid=16530399 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628222331/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44281912 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |accessdate=2023-06-28|url-access=subscription }}</ref> When reciprocated, this "honeymoon period" lasts 18 months to three years in most cases.<ref name="Love and Limerence">{{cite book |last=Tennov |first=Dorothy |author-link=Dorothy Tennov |title=Love and Limerence: the Experience of Being in Love |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPsDAAAACAAJ |access-date=12 March 2011 |year=1999 |publisher=Scarborough House |isbn=978-0-8128-6286-7 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327220413/https://books.google.com/books?id=uPsDAAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Leggett|first1=John C.|last2=Malm|first2=Suzanne|title=The Eighteen Stages of Love: Its Natural History, Fragrance, Celebration and Chase|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2g0RPVk7i1QC&pg=PA27|access-date=12 March 2011|date=March 1995|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-882289-33-2}}</ref> This would correspond to the period necessary to bring a child to relative independence in the traditionally small, interdependent, communal societies of pre-Neolithic humans, before they settled into agricultural communities.<ref name="pmid12962309" />

While genetic evidence typically displays a bias towards a smaller number of men reproducing with more women, some regions or time periods have shown the opposite. In a 2019 investigation, Musharoff et al. applied modern techniques to the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3 high-coverage Complete Genomics whole-genome dataset.<ref name="pmid31539367">{{cite journal | last1=Musharoff | first1=Shaila | last2=Shringarpure | first2=Suyash | last3=Bustamante | first3=Carlos D. | last4=Ramachandran | first4=Sohini | title=The inference of sex-biased human demography from whole-genome data | journal=PLOS Genetics | publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) | volume=15 | issue=9 | date=2019-09-20 | issn=1553-7404 | doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008293 | page=e1008293| pmid=31539367 | pmc=6774570 | doi-access=free }}</ref> They found that the Southern Han Chinese had a male bias (45% female, indicating that women were likely to reproduce with multiple men). This region is known for its lack of a concept of paternity and for a sense of female equality or superiority.<ref>{{cite news |last=Booth |first=Hannah |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/01/the-kingdom-of-women-the-tibetan-tribe-where-a-man-is-never-the-boss |title=The kingdom of women: the society where a man is never the boss |work=The Guardian |date=2017-04-01 |accessdate=2023-06-28 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622043118/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/01/the-kingdom-of-women-the-tibetan-tribe-where-a-man-is-never-the-boss |url-status=live }}</ref> The Musharoff study also found a male bias in Europeans (20% female) during an out-of-Africa migration event that may have increased the number of men successfully reproducing with women, perhaps by replenishing the genetic pool in Europe. The study did confirm a more typical female bias in Yorubans (63% female), Europeans (84%), Punjabis (82%), and Peruvians (56%).<ref name="pmid20453016">{{cite journal| author=Keinan A, Reich D| title=Can a sex-biased human demography account for the reduced effective population size of chromosome X in non-Africans? | journal=Mol Biol Evol | year= 2010 | volume= 27 | issue= 10 | pages= 2312–21 | pmid=20453016 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msq117 | pmc=2944028 }}</ref>

==Religious attitudes towards polygamy==

===Buddhism===
[[Buddhism]] does not regard marriage as a [[sacrament]]; it is purely a [[secular]] affair.  Normally Buddhist monks do not participate in it (though in some sects priests and monks do marry). Hence marriage receives no religious sanction.<ref name="access to insight">{{cite web |url= http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dewaraja/wheel280.html |title= Accesstoinsight.org |publisher= Accesstoinsight.org |access-date= 13 September 2011 |archive-date= 18 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220318150918/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dewaraja/wheel280.html |url-status= live }}</ref> Forms of marriage, in consequence, vary from country to country. The Parabhava [[List of suttas|Sutta]] states that "a man who is not satisfied with one woman and seeks out other women is on the path to decline". Other fragments in the Buddhist scripture seem to treat polygamy unfavorably, leading some authors to conclude that Buddhism generally does not approve of it<ref name="ethics of Buddhism">[https://books.google.com/books?id=URZNk9noWJEC&pg=PA101 The Ethics of Buddhism], Shundō Tachibana, Routledge, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-0230-5}}</ref> or alternatively regards it as a tolerated, but subordinate, marital model.<ref name="introduction to Buddhist ethics">[https://books.google.com/books?id=URZNk9noWJEC&pg=PA101 An introduction to Buddhist ethics]: foundations, values, and issues, Brian Peter Harvey, Cambridge University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-521-55640-8}}</ref>

[[Polygamy in Thailand]] was legally recognized until 1935. [[Polygamy in Myanmar]] was outlawed in 2015. In [[Sri Lanka]], polyandry was legal in the kingdom of Kandy, but outlawed by British after conquering the kingdom in 1815.<ref name="access to insight"/> When the Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese, the [[concubine]]s of others were added to the list of inappropriate partners. [[Polyandry in Tibet]] was traditionally common, as was polygyny, and having several wives or husbands was never regarded as having sex with inappropriate partners.<ref name="Berzin2010">{{cite web |url= http://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/path-to-enlightenment/karma-rebirth/buddhist-sexual-ethics-main-issues |title= Buddhist Sexual Ethics: Main Issues |work= Study Buddhism |first= Alexander |last= Berzin |date= 7 October 2010 |archive-date= 30 January 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160130091910/http://next.berzinarchives.com/tibetan-buddhism/guidelines-for-study/relating-the-teachings-to-personal-relationships/buddhist-sexual-ethics-main-issues |url-status= dead |access-date= 20 June 2016 }}</ref>
Most typically, fraternal polyandry is practiced, but sometimes father and son have a common wife, which is a unique family structure in the world. Other forms of marriage are also present, like group marriage and monogamous marriage.<ref name=Zeitzen/> Polyandry (especially fraternal polyandry) is also common in [[Tibet]]

===Celtic traditions===
Some pre-Christian [[Celtic paganism|Celtic pagans]] were known to practice polygamy, although the [[Celtic peoples]] wavered between it, [[monogamy]] and [[polyandry]] depending on the time period and the area.<ref name="Markale1986">{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Markale |author-link=Jean Markale |title=Women of the Celts |date=1986 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenofcelts00mark/page/36 36] |chapter=The Judicial Framework |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4UVc6up1HJUC&pg=PA36 |translator1-first=A. |translator1-last=Mygind |translator2-first=C. |translator2-last=Hauch |translator3-first=P. |translator3-last=Henry |publisher=Inner Traditions |location=Rochester, Vermont |orig-year=1st pub. 1972 ''La Femme Celte'' (in French) |isbn=978-0-89281-150-2 |lccn=86-20128 |oclc=14069840 |ol=2726337M |url=https://archive.org/details/womenofcelts00mark/page/36 }}</ref> In some areas this continued even after Christianization began, for instance the [[Brehon Laws]] of [[Gaelic Ireland]] explicitly allowed for polygamy,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fries |first1=Jan |title=Cauldron of the Gods: A manual of Celtic magick |date=2003 |publisher=Mandrake |location=Oxford |isbn=9781869928612 |page=192}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLeod |first1=Neil |editor1-last=Duffy |editor1-first=Seán |title=Medieval Ireland: An encyclopedia |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-415-94052-4 |pages=42–45 |chapter=Brehon law}}</ref> especially amongst the noble class.<ref>{{cite book |last1=State |first1=Paul F. |title=A brief history of Ireland |date=2009 |publisher=Checkmark Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0816075171 |page=17}}</ref> Some modern Celtic pagan religions accept the practice of polygamy to varying degrees,<ref>Fox, Martin and O'Ciarrai, Breandan. "[http://ciarraide.org/sinnsreachd101.html Céard is Sinnsreachd Ann? (What Is Sinnsreachd?)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231001450/http://ciarraide.org/sinnsreachd101.html |date=31 December 2014 }}", ''Tuath na Ciarraide'', 7 March 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2012.</ref> though how widespread the practice is within these religions is unknown.

===Christianity===
{{Main|Polygamy in Christianity}}
Although the [[Old Testament]] describes numerous examples of polygamy among devotees to God, most Christian groups have rejected the practice of polygamy and have upheld [[monogamy]] alone as normative. Nevertheless, some Christians groups in different periods have practiced, or currently do practice, polygamy.<ref name="Nyami2018">{{cite web |last1=Nyami |first1=Faith |title=Cleric: Christian men can marry more than one wife |url=https://www.nation.co.ke/news/-Christian-men-can-marry-more-than-one-wife/1056-4299848-dtv96mz/index.html |publisher=[[Daily Nation]] |access-date=9 October 2019 |language=en |date=11 February 2018 |archive-date=4 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404163551/https://www.nation.co.ke/news/-Christian-men-can-marry-more-than-one-wife/1056-4299848-dtv96mz/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mamdani2008">{{cite web |last1=Mamdani |first1=Zehra |title=Idaho Evangelical Christian polygamists use Internet to meet potential spouses |url=https://www.deseret.com/2008/2/28/20073463/idaho-evangelical-christian-polygamists-use-internet-to-meet-potential-spouses |publisher=[[Deseret News]] |access-date=9 October 2019 |language=en |date=28 February 2008 |archive-date=25 December 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201225040448/https://www.deseret.com/2008/2/28/20073463/idaho-evangelical-christian-polygamists-use-internet-to-meet-potential-spouses |url-status=live }}</ref> Some Christians actively debate whether the [[New Testament]] or [[Christian ethics]] allows or forbids polygamy.

In the [[New Testament]], Jesus recalled the earlier [[scriptures]], noting that a man and a wife "shall become one flesh".<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|2:24|ESV}}, {{bibleverse||Matthew|19:3–6|ESV}}</ref> 
Paul stated in one of his letters that "For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{bibleverse||1 Corinthians|7:4|ESV}}</ref>

However, some look to [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]]'s writings to the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|Corinthians]]: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.{{'"}} Supporters of polygamy claim that this verse indicates that the term refers to a physical, rather than a spiritual,{{clarify|date=February 2016}} union.<ref>{{bibleverse||1 Corinthians|6:16|ESV}}</ref> Such a claim also contradicts Paul's statement regarding authority other each other's bodies.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Some Christian theologians<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilber|first=David|date=26 August 2021|title=Monogamy: God's Creational Marriage Ideal|url=https://davidwilber.com/articles/monogamy-gods-creational-marriage-ideal|access-date=29 November 2021|archive-date=29 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129215031/https://davidwilber.com/articles/monogamy-gods-creational-marriage-ideal|url-status=live}}</ref> argue that in Matthew 19:3–9 and referring to Genesis 2:24,<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|2:24}}</ref> [[Jesus]] explicitly states a man should have only one wife:
{{blockquote|Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|19:3–9}}</ref>}}

1 Timothy 3:2 states:
{{blockquote|Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher,<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Timothy|3:2|NRSV}}</ref>}} See verse 12 regarding deacons having only one wife. Similar counsel is repeated in the first chapter of the [[Epistle to Titus]].<ref>The Digital [[Nestle-Aland]] lists only one manuscript (P46) as source of the verse, while nine other manuscripts have no such verse, cf. http://nttranscripts.uni-muenster.de/AnaServer?NTtranscripts+0+start.anv {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120530215112/http://nttranscripts.uni-muenster.de/AnaServer?NTtranscripts+0+start.anv |date=30 May 2012 }}</ref>

Periodically, Christian reform movements that have sought to rebuild Christian doctrine based on the Bible alone (''[[sola scriptura]]'') have temporarily accepted polygyny as a Biblical practice. For example, during the [[Protestant Reformation]], in a document which was simply referred to as ''"Der Beichtrat"'' (or ''"The Confessional Advice"'' ),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_kqyauQISxFEC <!-- quote=Dr. Martin Luthers Briefe, Sendschreiben. --> Letter to Philip of Hesse], 10 December 1539, [[De Wette]]-Seidemann, 6:238–244</ref> [[Martin Luther]] granted the [[Landgrave]] [[Philip of Hesse]], who, for many years, had been living "constantly in a state of [[adultery]] and [[fornication]]",<ref name="Michelet1904">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lifelutherwritt00luthgoog |title=The Life of Luther Written by Himself |date=1904 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifelutherwritt00luthgoog/page/n271 251] |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;III: 1536–1545 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/lifelutherwritt00luthgoog#page/n271 |editor-last=Michelet |editor-link=Jules Michelet |translator-first=William |translator-last=Hazlitt |translator-link=William Hazlitt |publisher=[[George Bell and Sons]] |location=London |series=Bohn's Standard Library}}</ref> a dispensation to take a second wife. The double marriage was to be done in secret, however, to avoid public scandal.<ref>[[James Bowling Mozley]] ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ofwE7kEdx6QC&pg=PA403 Essays, Historical and Theological]'' 1:403–404 Excerpts from ''Der Beichtrat''</ref> Some fifteen years earlier, in a letter to the Saxon Chancellor Gregor Brück, Luther stated that he could not "forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture." ("''Ego sane fateor, me non posse prohibere, si quis plures velit uxores ducere, nec repugnat sacris literis.''")<ref>Letter to the Chancellor [[:de:Gregor Brück|Gregor Brück]], 13 January 1524, [[De Wette]] 2:459.</ref>

In [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], tensions have frequently erupted between advocates of the Christian insistence on monogamy and advocates of the traditional practice of polygamy. For instance, [[Mswati III]], the Christian [[List of monarchs of Eswatini|king of Eswatini]], has 15 wives. In some instances in recent times, there have been moves for accommodation; in other instances, churches have strongly resisted such moves. African Independent Churches have sometimes referred to those parts of the [[Old Testament]] that describe polygamy in defense of the practice.

The illegality of polygamy in certain areas creates, according to certain Bible passages, additional arguments against it. [[Paul the Apostle]] writes "submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience" (Romans 13:5), for "the authorities that exist have been established by God." (Romans 13:1) [[St Peter]] concurs when he says to "submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." (1 Peter 2:13,14) Pro-polygamists argue that, as long as polygamists currently do not obtain legal marriage licenses nor seek "common law marriage status" for additional spouses, no enforced laws are being broken any more than when monogamous couples similarly co-habitate without a marriage license.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/exegesis/law-of-the-land/|title=Law of the Land – Exegesis – Biblical Polygamy . com|website=biblicalpolygamy.com|access-date=8 July 2005|archive-date=31 August 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831072406/http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/exegesis/law-of-the-land/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Roman Catholic Church====
The Roman [[Catholic Church]] condemns polygamy; the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' lists it in paragraph 2387 under the head "Other offenses against the dignity of marriage" and states that it "is not in accord with the moral law." Also in paragraph 1645 under the head "The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love" states "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to husband and wife in mutual and unreserved affection. Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive."<ref>{{cite web
 |first        = Kelvin
 |last         = Ugwu
 |title        = Understanding The Scriptural Teaching on Polygamy
 |url          = https://penshuttle.com/understanding-the-scriptural-teaching-on-polygamy/
 |date         = 28 April 2022
 |publisher    = Pen Shuttle
 |access-date   = 28 April 2022
 |archive-date = 28 April 2022
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220428183734/https://penshuttle.com/understanding-the-scriptural-teaching-on-polygamy/
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

Saint [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy. He refrained from judging the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygyny. On the contrary, he argued that the polygamy of the Fathers, which was tolerated by the Creator because of fertility, was a diversion from His original plan for human marriage. Augustine wrote: "That the good purpose of marriage, however, is better promoted by one husband with one wife, than by a husband with several wives, is shown plainly enough by the very first union of a married pair, which was made by the Divine Being Himself."<ref>[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume V/On Marriage and Concupiscence/Book I/Chapter 10|''On Marriage and Concupiscence'', I,10]]</ref>

Augustine taught that the reason patriarchs had many wives was not because of fornication, but because they wanted more children. He supported his premise by showing that their marriages, in which husband was the head, were arranged according to the rules of good management: those who are ''in command'' (''quae principantur'') in their society were always singular, while ''subordinates'' (''subiecta'') were multiple. He gave two examples of such relationships: ''dominus-servus'' – master-servant (in older translation: ''slave'') and ''God-soul''. The Bible often equates worshiping multiple gods, i.e. idolatry to fornication.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marcus |first=Joel |title=Idolatry in the New Testament |journal=Interpretation |date=April 2006 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=152–164 |doi=10.1177/002096430606000203|s2cid=170288252 }}</ref> Augustine relates to that: "On this account there is no True God of souls, save One: but one soul by means of many false gods may commit fornication, but not be made fruitful."<ref>[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 20|Augustine, ''On the Good of Marriage'', ch. 20]]; cf. [[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume V/On Marriage and Concupiscence/Book I/Chapter 10|''On Marriage and Concupiscence'', I,10]]</ref>

As tribal populations grew, fertility was no longer a valid justification of polygamy: it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce (utrum et nunc fas sit, non temere dixerim). For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful."<ref>St. Augustin [[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 17|''On the Good of Marriage'', ch.17]]; cf. [[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume V/On Marriage and Concupiscence/Book I/Chapter 9|''On Marriage and Concupiscence'', I,9.8]]</ref>

Augustine saw marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman, which may not be broken. It was the Creator who established monogamy: "Therefore, the first natural bond of human society is man and wife."<ref>[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 1|''On the Good of Marriage'', ch.1]]</ref> Such marriage was confirmed by the Saviour in the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 19:9) and by His presence at the wedding in Cana (John 2:2).<ref>[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 3|''On the Good of Marriage'', ch.3]]</ref> In the Church—the City of God—marriage is a sacrament and may not and cannot be dissolved as long as the spouses live: "But a marriage once for all entered upon in the City of our God, where, even from the first union of the two, the man and the woman, marriage bears a certain sacramental character, can in no way be dissolved but by the death of one of them."<ref>[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 17|''On the Good of Marriage'', 17]]</ref> In chapter 7, Augustine pointed out that the Roman Empire forbad polygamy, even if the reason of fertility would support it: "For it is in a man's power to put away a wife that is barren, and marry one of whom to have children. And yet it is not allowed; and now indeed in our times, and after the usage of Rome (nostris quidem iam temporibus ac more Romano), neither to marry in addition, so as to have more than one wife living." Further on he notices that the Church's attitude goes much further than the secular law regarding monogamy: It forbids remarrying, considering such to be a form of fornication: "And yet, save in the City of our God, in His Holy Mount, the case is not such with the wife. But, that the laws of the Gentiles are otherwise, who is there that knows not."<ref>Augustine, [[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On the Good of Marriage/Section 7|''On the Good of Marriage'', ch. 7]]</ref>

The Council of Trent condemns polygamy: "If anyone saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be [[anathema]]."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/trent/twenty-fourth-session.htm| title = PapalEncyclicals: Council of Trenty, 24th Sessions| date = 11 November 1563| access-date = 14 April 2019| archive-date = 14 April 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190414024049/http://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/trent/twenty-fourth-session.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>

In modern times a minority of Roman Catholic theologians have argued that polygamy, though not ideal, can be a legitimate form of Christian marriage in certain regions, in particular Africa.<ref>"''The Ratzinger report: an exclusive interview on the state of the Church Pope Benedict XVI, Vittorio Messori"'', p.&nbsp;195, Ignatius Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-89870-080-9}}</ref><ref>"''Morality: The Case for Polygamy",'' Time Magazine, 10 May 1968, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090205142602/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902227,00.html time.com] and "''Christianity and the African imagination: essays in honour of [[Adrian Hastings]]''", edited by David Maxwell with Ingrid Lawrie, p.&nbsp;345–346, Brill, 2002, {{ISBN|90-04-11668-0}}</ref> The Roman Catholic Church teaches in its Catechism that: <blockquote>
polygamy is not in accord with the moral law. [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God that was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Catholic Cathechism, para. 2387] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020910104753/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm |date=10 September 2002 }} 5 April 2009, Vatican website</ref></blockquote>

====Lutheran Church====
The [[Lutheran World Federation]] hosted a regional conference in Africa, in which the acceptance of polygamists into full membership by the Lutheran Church in Liberia was defended as being permissible.<ref>{{cite book|last=Deressa|first=Yonas |title=The Ministry of the Whole Person|year=1973|publisher=Gudina Tumsa Foundation|language=en|page=350}}</ref> The Lutheran Church in Liberia, however, does not permit polygamists who have become Christians to marry more wives after they have received the sacrament of [[Baptism|Holy Baptism]].<ref name="KilbridePage2012">{{cite book|last1=Kilbride|first1=Philip Leroy|last2=Page|first2=Douglas R.|title=Plural Marriage for Our Times: A Reinvented Option?|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|language=en|isbn=9780313384783|page=188}}</ref> Evangelical Lutheran missionaries in Maasai also tolerate the practice of polygamy and in Southern Sudan, some polygamists are becoming Lutheran Christians.<ref name="Moses2016">{{cite book|last=Mlenga|first=Moses|title=Polygamy in Northern Malawi: A Christian Reassessment|date=13 January 2016|publisher=Mzuni Press|language=en|isbn=9789996045097|pages=41–42}}</ref>

====Anglican Communion====
The 1988 [[Lambeth Conference]] of the [[Anglican Communion]] ruled that polygamy was permissible in certain circumstances:<ref name="Draper2003">{{cite book|last=Draper|first=Jonathan A.|title=The Eye of the Storm: Bishop John William Colenso and the Crisis of Biblical Inspiration|date=1 April 2003|publisher=A&C Black|language=en|isbn=9780826470904|page=304}}</ref>
{{blockquote|The Conference upholds monogamy as God's plan, as the idea of relationship of love between husband and wife; nevertheless recommends that a polygamist who responds to the Gospel and wishes to join the Anglican Church may be baptized and confirmed with his believing wives and children on the following conditions: 
*that the polygamist shall promise not to marry again as long as any of his wives at the time of his conversion are alive; 
*that the receiving of such a polygamist has the consent of the local Anglican community; 
*that such a polygamist shall not be compelled to put away any of his wives on account of the social deprivation they would suffer.<ref name="Draper2003"/>}}

====Latter Day Saint movement====
{{LDSpolygamy}}
{{main|Mormonism and polygamy}}
{{see also|List of Latter Day Saint practitioners of plural marriage}}
In accordance with what Joseph Smith indicated was a revelation, the practice of plural marriage, the marriage of one man to two or more women, was instituted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah?lang=eng&old=true|title=Polygamy (Plural Marriage) {{!}} LDS Church Perspective on Polygamy|website=ChurchofJesusChrist.org|access-date=2017-04-18|archive-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085801/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah?lang=eng&old=true|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite Smith's revelation, the 1835 edition of the 101st Section of the ''Doctrine and Covenants'', written after the doctrine of plural marriage began to be practiced, publicly condemned polygamy. This scripture was used by [[John Taylor (1808–1887)|John Taylor]] in 1850 to quash Mormon polygamy rumors in [[Liverpool, England]].<ref>Three nights public discussion between the Revds. C. W. Cleeve, James Robertson, and Philip Cater, and Elder John Taylor, Of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, At Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France. Chairman, Rev. K. Groves, M.A., Assisted By Charles Townley, LL.D., and Mr. Luddy. pp.&nbsp;8–9</ref> Polygamy was made illegal in the state of [[Illinois]]<ref>Greiner & Sherman, Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, pp.&nbsp;198–199</ref> during the 1839–44 [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]] era when several top Mormon leaders, including Smith,<ref name="Compton1996">{{cite journal |first=Todd |last=Compton |author-link=Todd Compton |title=A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty‑three Plural Wives |journal=Dialogue |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=1–38 |date=1996 |doi=10.2307/45226184 |jstor=45226184 |s2cid=254388739 |issn=0012-2157 |oclc=929467668 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Smith1994">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=George D |author-link=George D. Smith |title=Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report |journal=Dialogue |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–72 |date=1994 |doi=10.2307/45228320 |jstor=45228320 |s2cid=254329894 |issn=0012-2157 |oclc=367616792 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V34N0102_135.pdf |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=13 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013041433/http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V34N0102_135.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Brigham Young]] and [[Heber C. Kimball]] took multiple wives. Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to harsh discipline.<ref>[http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n03.htm Times and Seasons, vol.&nbsp;5, p.&nbsp;423] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807095056/http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n03.htm |date=7 August 2007 }}, 1 February 1844</ref> On 7 June 1844 the ''[[Nauvoo Expositor]]'' criticized Smith for plural marriage.

=====The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)=====
After [[Death of Joseph Smith|Joseph Smith]] was killed by a mob on 27 June 1844, the main body of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo and followed Brigham Young to [[Utah]] where the practice of plural marriage continued.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=http://www.mscbc.org/video/vid_lvp.htm |title=Lifting the Veil of Polygamy |year=2007 |publisher=Main Street Church |postscript=, |access-date=11 October 2009 |archive-date=23 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223034316/http://www.mscbc.org/video/vid_lvp.htm |url-status=live }} a video presentation concerning the history of Mormon polygamy and its modern manifestations.</ref> In 1852, [[Brigham Young]], the second [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|president]] of the LDS Church, publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave. Additional sermons by top Mormon leaders on the virtues of polygamy followed.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Journal of Discourses]] |volume=11 |pages=119–128 |first=Brigham |last=Young |author-link=Brigham Young |date=18 June 1865 |title=Personality of God – His Attributes – Eternal Life, etc. |url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/4640 |quote=Since the founding of the Roman empire monogamy has prevailed more extensively than in times previous to that. The founders of that ancient empire were robbers and women stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy in consequence of the scarcity of women among them, and hence this monogamic system which now prevails throughout Christendom, and which had been so fruitful a source of prostitution and whoredom throughout all the Christian monogamic cities of the Old and New World, until rottenness and decay are at the root of their institutions both national and religious. |access-date=24 October 2013 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200242/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/4640 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|128}} Controversy followed when polygamy became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s 1856 [[Party platform|platform]] was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".<ref>[http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm GOP Convention of 1856 in Philadelphia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010053517/http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm |date=10 October 2007 }} from the Independence Hall Association website</ref> In 1862, [[37th United States Congress|Congress]] issued the [[Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act]] which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|US territories]]. The LDS Church believed that their religiously based practice of plural marriage was protected by the [[United States Constitution]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/05.html |title=Free Exercise Clause – First Amendment |publisher=Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628192616/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/05.html |url-status=live }}</ref> however, the unanimous 1878 [[U.S. Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Reynolds v. United States]]'' declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the longstanding legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case=/us/98/145.html|title=FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions.|website=Findlaw|access-date=4 May 2006|archive-date=29 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429103035/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case=/us/98/145.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]]. In 1890, LDS Church president [[Wilford Woodruff]] issued a public declaration (the [[1890 Manifesto|Manifesto]]) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. [[Anti-Mormonism|Anti-Mormon sentiment]] waned, as did opposition to statehood for [[Utah]]. The [[Smoot Hearings]] in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a [[Second Manifesto]] again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages. By 1910 the LDS Church [[excommunicate]]d those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name=UHE-Polygamy>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Jessie L. |last=Embry |contribution=Polygamy |contribution-url=http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.html |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=Allan Kent |year=1994 |title=Utah History Encyclopedia |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher=[[University of Utah Press]] |isbn=978-0874804256 |oclc=30473917 |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-date=17 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417163937/http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Enforcement of the 1890 Manifesto caused various [[Schism (religion)|splinter groups]] to leave the LDS Church in order to continue the practice of plural marriage.<ref>[http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/polygamy/The_Primer.pdf "The Primer"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070719143759/http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/polygamy/The_Primer.pdf |date=19 July 2007 }} – Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities. A joint report from the offices of the Attorneys General of Arizona and Utah. (2006)</ref> Polygamy among these groups persists today in [[Utah]] and neighboring states as well as in the spin-off colonies. Polygamist churches of Mormon origin are often referred to as "[[Mormon fundamentalism|Mormon fundamentalist]]" churches even though they are not parts of the LDS Church. Such fundamentalists often use a purported [[1886 revelation]] to [[John Taylor (1808–1887)|John Taylor]] as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/NEWFILES/1886RevelationNew.htm |title=An 1886 Revelation to John Taylor |publisher=Mormonfundamentalism.com |access-date=13 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921072222/http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/NEWFILES/1886RevelationNew.htm |archive-date=21 September 2011 }}</ref> ''[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]'' stated in 2005 that there were as many as 37,000 fundamentalists with less than half of them living in polygamous households.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2925222 |title=LDS splinter groups growing |first=Brooke |last=Adams |date=9 August 2005 |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |issn=0746-3502 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113202411/http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2925222 |archive-date=13 January 2014 }}</ref>

On 13 December 2013, US Federal Judge Clark Waddoups ruled in ''[[Brown v. Buhman]]'' that the portions of Utah's anti-polygamy laws which prohibit multiple [[cohabitation]] were unconstitutional, but also allowed Utah to maintain its ban on multiple marriage licenses.<ref name=yyyuhs>{{cite web | url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/191409187/Utah-Polygamy-Decision | title=Utah Polygamy Decision &#124; Mormonism and Polygamy &#124; Polygamy | access-date=8 September 2017 | archive-date=6 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306052340/https://www.scribd.com/doc/191409187/Utah-Polygamy-Decision | url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=December 2013}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=John |date=14 September 2013 |title=A Law Prohibiting Polygamy is Weakened |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/us/a-utah-law-prohibiting-polygamy-is-weakened.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-access=limited |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112161433/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/us/a-utah-law-prohibiting-polygamy-is-weakened.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mears |first=Bill |date=14 December 2013 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/justice/utah-polygamy-law/ |title='Sister Wives' case: Judge strikes down part of Utah polygamy law |publisher=CNN |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112161550/http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/justice/utah-polygamy-law/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Stack |first=Peggy Fletcher |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=14 December 2013 |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57264020&itype=CMSID |title=Laws on Mormon polygamists lead to win for plural marriage |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |issn=0746-3502 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=6 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806062415/http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57264020&itype=CMSID |url-status=live }}</ref> Unlawful cohabitation, where prosecutors did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), had been the primary tool used to prosecute polygamy in Utah since the 1882 [[Edmunds Act]].<ref name=UHE-Polygamy/>

=====Mormon fundamentalism=====
The [[Council of Friends (Woolley)|Council of Friends]] (also known as the Woolley Group and the Priesthood Council)<ref>''Religious Sects, and Cults That Sprang from Mormonism'' (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers Central Company, 1942).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Joseph W. |last=Musser |author-link=Joseph White Musser |title=Factions |journal=Truth |volume=9 |issue=24 |date=September 1943 |pages=94–96}}</ref> was one of the original expressions of [[Mormon fundamentalism]], having its origins in the teachings of [[Lorin C. Woolley]], a dairy farmer excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924. Several Mormon fundamentalist groups claim lineage through the Council of Friends, including but not limited to, the [[Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]] (FLDS Church), the [[Apostolic United Brethren]], the [[Centennial Park group]], the [[Latter Day Church of Christ]], and the [[Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].

=====Community of Christ=====
The [[Community of Christ]], known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) prior to 2001, has never sanctioned polygamy since its foundation in 1860. [[Joseph Smith&nbsp;III]], the first Prophet-President of the RLDS Church following the reorganization of the Church, was an ardent opponent of the practice of [[plural marriage]] throughout his life. For most of his career, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated with Brigham Young. Smith served many missions to the western United States, where he met with and interviewed associates and women claiming to be widows of his father, who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. Smith typically responded to such accusations by saying that he was "not positive nor sure that {{bracket|his father}} was innocent",<ref name="Launius1987">{{cite journal |first=Roger D. |last=Launius |author-link=Roger D. Launius |title=Methods and Motives: Joseph Smith&nbsp;III's Opposition to Polygamy, 1860–90 |journal=Dialogue |volume=20 |issue=4 |page=112 |date=1987 |doi=10.2307/45228113 |jstor=45228113 |s2cid=254387866 |issn=0012-2157 |oclc=365871238 |quote=When challenged this way he typically responded .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. 'I am not positive nor sure that he was innocent'. |doi-access=free }}</ref> and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice. However, many members of the [[Community of Christ]] and some of the groups that were previously associated with it are not convinced that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage and they believe that the evidence which indicates that he practiced it is flawed.<ref name="Promeet2013">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/498278/Community-of-Christ |title=Community of Christ |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=6 October 2013 |access-date=1 February 2016 |first1=Dutta |last1=Promeet |first2=Yamini |last2=Chauhan |location=London |orig-year=1st&nbsp;pub.&nbsp;14 June 2007 |url-access=subscription |quote=The Community of Christ .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. claims that polygamy was introduced by Brigham&nbsp;Young and his associates and that the revelation on polygamy, which was made public in 1852 by Young in Utah .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. was not in harmony with the original tenets of the church or with the teachings and practices of Smith. |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085828/https://academic.eb.com/?target=%2Flevels%2Fcollegiate%2Farticle%2FCommunity-of-Christ%2F63220 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.restorationbookstore.org/jsfp-index.htm|title=Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy|website=restorationbookstore.org|access-date=2 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218120109/https://www.islamonline.in/2020/06/polygamy-in-islam.html|archive-date=18 February 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Hinduism===
The [[Rig Veda|''Rigveda'']] mentions that during the [[Vedic period]], a man could have more than one wife.<ref name="Vedic">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TVLlPvuMAC&pg=PA478 |title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Volume 1; Volume 5 |page=478|isbn=9788120813328 |last1=MacDonell |first1=Arthur Anthony |last2=Keith |first2=Arthur Berriedale |year=1995 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers }}</ref> The practice is attested in epics like the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. The [[Dharmashastras|''Dharmashastra''s]] permit a man to marry women provided that the first wife agree to marry him.{{Clarification needed|date=June 2023}} Despite its existence, it was most usually practiced by men of higher status. Common people were only allowed a second marriage if the first wife could not bear a son or have some dispute because there is no law for divorce in Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N–Z |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc |page=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/514 514]|isbn=9780823931804 |last1=James g. Lochtefeld |first1=PhD |date=2001-12-15 }}</ref>

According to the ''[[Vishnu Smriti]]'', the number of wives one could have is linked to one's social class, referred to as ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'':
{{blockquote|Now a [[Brahmin|Brāhmaṇa]] may take many wives in the direct order of the (four) knowledge;<br />A [[Kshatriya]] means warrior knowledge, three;<br />A [[Vaishya]] means business knowledge, two;<br />A [[Shudra]] means cleaning knowledge, one only<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe07/sbe07026.htm|title=XXIV.|website=sacred-texts.com|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=4 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104210715/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe07/sbe07026.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

This linkage of the number of permitted wives to the varna system is also supported by the ''[[Baudhayana]]'' ''Dharmasutra'' and the ''Paraskara Grihyasutra''.<ref name="MMS"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqm0c02RMWYC&pg=PA301 |title=The world wakes up to Islam! |page=301|isbn=9788174355904 |last1=Siddiqui |first1=Moid |year=2009 |publisher=Adam Publishers & Distributors }}</ref>

The ''[[Apastamba]] Dharmasutra'' and the ''[[Manusmriti]]'' allow marriage to a second wife if the first one is unable to discharge her religious duties or is unable to bear a child or have any dispute because in Hinduism there was no law for divorce.<ref name="MMS">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-00Ip4W1BUC&pg=PA40 |title=Life in North-eastern India in Pre-Mauryan times |pages=39–40|last1=Singh |first1=Madan Mohan |year=1967 }}</ref>

For a [[Brahmin|Brahmana]], only one wife could rank as the chief consort who performed the religious rites (''dharma-patni'') along with the husband. The chief consort had to be of an equal knowledge. If a man married several women from the same knowledgeable, then the eldest wife held the position of the chief consort.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LnoREHdzxt8C&pg=PA114 |title=Antiquities of India |page=114|isbn=9788171564422 |last1=Barnett |first1=Lionel D. |date=1999-04-30 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist }}</ref> [[Hindu king]]s commonly had more than one wife and are regularly attributed four wives by the scriptures. They were: Mahisi, who was the chief consort, Parivrkti, who had no son, Vaivata, who is considered the favorite wife and the Palagali, who was the daughter of the last of the court officials.<ref name="Vedic"/>

Traditional Hindu law allowed polygamy if the first wife could not bear a child.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGV3noHZ1QMC&pg=PA153 |title=Religion and Personal law in secular India: A call to judgment |page=153|isbn=978-0253214805 |last1=Larson |first1=Gerald James |year=2001 |publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref>

The [[Hindu Marriage Act]] was enacted in 1955 by the [[Indian Parliament]] and made polygamy illegal for everyone in India except for Muslims. Prior to 1955, polygamy was permitted for Hindus. Marriage laws in India are dependent upon the religion of the parties in question.<ref>[http://www.sudhirlaw.com/Marriages.html Marriages-Divorces] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050901081957/http://www.sudhirlaw.com/Marriages.html |date=1 September 2005 }} section at general information website on Indian laws by Sudhir Shah and Associates</ref>

Some Hindus in [[Indonesia]] practice [[Polygamy in Indonesia|polygamy]].<ref name="Martyn">{{cite book
| title = The Women's Movement in Postcolonial Indonesia: Gender and Nation in a New Democracy
| first = Elizabeth | last = Martyn
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CQh_AgAAQBAJ&q=balinese+polygamy&pg=PA263
| page = 178, 184
| publisher = Routledge | year = 2004
| isbn = 9781134394708
}}</ref>  

===Islam===
{{Main|Polygyny in Islam}}
In [[Islamic marital jurisprudence]], under warranted conditions, a Muslim man may have [[Polygyny|more than one wife]] at the same time, up to a total of four. Muslim women are not permitted to have [[Polyandry|more than one husband]] at the same time under any circumstances.

Based on verse 30:21 of [[Quran]] the ideal relationship is the comfort that a couple find in each other's embrace:
{{blockquote|And one of His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may find comfort in them. And He has placed between you compassion and mercy. Surely in this are signs for people who reflect.|{{qref|30|21|c=y}}}}

The polygyny that is allowed in the Quran is for special situations. There are strict requirements to marrying more than one woman, as the man must treat them fairly financially and in terms of support given to each wife, according to Islamic law. However, Islam advises monogamy for a man if he fears he cannot deal justly with his wives. This is based on verse 4:3 of [[Quran]] which says:

{{blockquote|If you fear you might fail to give orphan women their ˹due˺ rights ˹if you were to marry them˺, then marry other women of your choice—two, three, or four. But if you are afraid you will fail to maintain justice, then ˹content yourselves with˺ one or those ˹bondwomen˺ in your possession. This way you are less likely to commit injustice.|{{qref|4|3|c=y}}}}

Muslim women are not allowed to marry more than one husband at once. However, in the case of a [[divorce]] or their husbands' death they can remarry after the completion of [[Iddah]], as divorce is legal in Islamic law. A non-Muslim woman who flees from her non-Muslim husband and accepts [[Islam]] has the option to remarry without divorce from her previous husband, as her marriage with non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved on her fleeing.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Çiğdem|first=Recep|date=March 2015|title=Interfaith marriage in comparative perspective|journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|language=en|volume=68|issue=1|pages=59–86|doi=10.1556/AOrient.68.2015.1.4|issn=0001-6446|url=http://real.mtak.hu/37242/1/aorient.68.2015.1.4.pdf|access-date=26 August 2020|archive-date=12 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031756/http://real.mtak.hu/37242/1/aorient.68.2015.1.4.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A non-Muslim woman captured during war by Muslims, can also remarry, as her marriage with her non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved at capture by Muslim soldiers.<ref>[[Thomas Hughes]] (1855), ''Dictionary of Islam'', p.59.</ref><ref>[[David Samuel Margoliouth]] (1905), ''Mohammed and the Rise of Islam'', p.407, p.461.</ref> This permission is given to such women in verse 4:24 of Quran. The verse also emphasizes on transparency, mutual agreement and financial compensation as prerequisites for matrimonial relationship as opposed to prostitution; it says:
{{blockquote|Also ˹forbidden are˺ married women—except ˹female˺ captives in your possession. This is Allah's commandment to you. Lawful to you are all beyond these—as long as you seek them with your wealth in a legal marriage, not in fornication. Give those you have consummated marriage with their due dowries. It is permissible to be mutually gracious regarding the set dowry. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.|{{qref|4|24 |c=y}}}}

[[Muhammad]] was monogamously married to [[Khadija bint Khuwaylid|Khadija]], his first wife, for 25 years, until she died. After her death, he married multiple women. Muhammad had a total of 9 wives at the same time, even though Muslim men were limited to 4 wives. His total wives are 11.

One reason cited for polygyny is that it allows a man to give financial protection to multiple women, who might otherwise not have any support (e.g. widows).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/fatwa/ShowFatwa.php?lang=A&Id=18444&Option=FatwaId |title=IslamWeb |publisher=IslamWeb |date=7 February 2002 |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085755/https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/18444/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, some Islamic scholars say the wife can set a condition, in the [[nikah|marriage contract]], that the husband cannot marry another woman during their marriage. In such a case, the husband cannot marry another woman as long as he is married to his wife. However, other Islamic scholars state that this condition is not allowed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=165257 |title=ahlalhdeeth |publisher=ahlalhdeeth |date=12 September 2013 |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=14 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214201552/http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=165257 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to traditional Islamic law, each of those wives keeps their property and assets separate; and are paid [[Mahr]] separately by their husband. Usually the wives have little to no contact with each other and lead separate, individual lives in their own houses, and sometimes in different cities, though they all share the same husband.

In most Muslim-majority countries, polygyny is legal with [[Kuwait]] being the only one where no restrictions are imposed on it. The practice is illegal in Muslim-majority [[Turkey]], [[Tunisia]], [[Albania]], [[Kosovo]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Brunei]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[Guinea]],
[[Kazakhstan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan ]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHF8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT230|title=Women, Islam and Everyday Life: Renegotiating Polygamy in Indonesia|first=Nina|last=Nurmila|date=10 June 2009|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=9781134033706}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thinkafricapress.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkafricapress.com%2Ftunisia%2Ffuture-state-feminism#2848 |title=Tunisia: Protecting Ben Ali's Feminist Legacy |author=Maike Voorhoeve |publisher=[[Think Africa Press]] |date=31 January 2013 |access-date=23 January 2015 |archive-date=23 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123221720/http://www.thinkafricapress.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkafricapress.com%2Ftunisia%2Ffuture-state-feminism#2848 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njPYSxcBV-EC&pg=PA272|title=Social Assessment and Agricultural Reform in Central Asia and Turkey|first1=Ay?e|last1=Kudat|first2=Stan|last2=Peabody|first3=Ça?lar|last3=Keyder|date=29 December 2017|publisher=World Bank Publications|via=Google Books|isbn=9780821346785}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.un.org/press/fr/2007/FEM1625.doc.htm|title= LES EXPERTS DU CEDAW S'INQUIÈTENT DE LA PERSISTANCE DE STÉRÉOTYPES SEXISTES ET DE LA SITUATION DES MINORITÉS EN SERBIE|publisher= [[United Nations]]|date= 16 May 2007|access-date= 3 February 2016|archive-date= 24 June 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170624231342/http://www.un.org/press/fr/2007/FEM1625.doc.htm|url-status= live}}</ref>

Countries that allow polygyny typically also require a man to obtain permission from his previous wives before marrying another, and require the man to prove that he can financially support multiple wives. In some Muslim countries, a man must justify taking an additional wife at a court hearing before he is allowed to do so.<ref name="Modern">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4Eye4ilLVkC&pg=PA35 |title=Modern Muslim societies |page=35 |isbn=978-0-7614-7927-7 |date=2010|last1=Reference |first1=Marshall Cavendish |publisher=Marshall Cavendish }}</ref> In Sudan, the government encouraged polygyny in 2001 to increase the population.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1493309.stm |title=Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has urged Sudanese men to take more than one wife, claiming that this would the population |publisher=BBC News |date=15 August 2001 |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=15 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215083609/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1493309.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Judaism===
{{See also|Pilegesh|Polygyny#Judaism}}

Polygyny is not forbidden in the [[Hebrew Bible]], and over 40 important figures had more than one wife, such as [[Jacob]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|31:17|HE}}</ref> [[Solomon]],<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|11:1–3|HE}}</ref> and possibly [[Moses]].{{efn|In {{bibleverse|Exodus|2:21|HE}} Moses married Zipporah, while in {{bibleverse|Numbers|12:1|HE}} he was married to the "Cushite" or "Ethiopian" woman, who may have been a different woman, though some commentators assert that the Cushite woman was Zipporah.<ref>{{cite book | first1=Alice | last1=Ogden Bellis | editor-last1=Meyers | editor-first1=Carol | editor-last2=Craven | editor-first2=Toni | editor-last3=Kraemer | editor-first3=Ross S. | title=Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-547-34558-1 | chapter=Cushite Woman, Wife of Moses | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6txrDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT381 | access-date=23 November 2023 | page=381}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first1=R. | last1=Laird Harris | editor-last1=Brand | editor-first1=Chad | editor-last2=Mitchell | editor-first2=Eric | editor3=Holman Reference Editorial Staff | title=Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary | publisher=B&H Publishing Group | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8054-9935-3 | chapter=Aaron | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgxCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 | access-date=23 November 2023 | page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Kugel | first=James L. | title=Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-674-03976-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8AjDrIkBG4C&pg=PA532 | access-date=23 November 2023 | page=532}}</ref>}} However, the [[Torah]] contains a few specific regulations that apply to polygamy,<ref name="Coogan2010">{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Michael |title=God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says |edition=1st |date=October 2010 |publisher=Twelve. Hachette Book Group |location=New York, Boston |isbn=978-0-446-54525-9 |oclc=505927356 |page=[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/79 79] |url=https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/79 }}</ref> such as {{Bibleverse|Exodus|21:10|HE}} ("If he take another wife for himself; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish"),<ref name="TJBEX2110">''The Jerusalem Bible: The Holy Scriptures''. Ed. [[Harold Fisch]]. Trans. Fisch. Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 1980.</ref> {{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|21:15–17|HE}} (a man must award the inheritance due to a first-born son to the son who was actually born first, even if he hates that son's mother and likes another wife more), and {{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|17:17|HE}} (the king shall not have too many wives). Polygyny was still practiced well into the biblical period, and it is attested among Jews as late as the [[second century&nbsp;CE]].<ref name=coogan>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Michael |title=God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says |edition=1st |date=October 2010 |publisher=Twelve. Hachette Book Group |location=New York, Boston |isbn=978-0-446-54525-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/78 78] |url=https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/78 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Metzger |editor1-first=Bruce M. |editor2-last=Coogan |editor2-first=Michael D. |title=The Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514917-3 |page=339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aml3tEWoOVEC&pg=PA339 |quote=polygamy was accepted and practiced throughout Israel's history, although to what extent we cannot be sure, since the sources for the most part are derived from and describe the elite ruling and upper classes. |access-date=23 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404083836/https://books.google.com/books?id=aml3tEWoOVEC&pg=PA339 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Karras2012">{{cite book |last1=Karras |first1=Ruth Mazo |title=Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages |date=2012 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0641-8 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZQZh9r2yU0C&pg=PA14 |quote=In the Second Temple period in Palestine, plural marriage seems to have become less common than earlier, although it was not formally outlawed and was more common in Babylonia. It still appeared in the Talmud and was practiced occasionally in early medieval Europe. Gershom Me'or ha-Golah (the Light of the Exile), an eleventh- century German rabbi, possibly under Christian influence, eventually forbade it. |access-date=23 March 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405032706/https://books.google.com/books?id=MZQZh9r2yU0C&pg=PA14 |url-status=live }}</ref> The incidence was limited, however, and it was likely largely restricted to the wealthy.<ref>du Plessis, I. (1998). "The social and economic life of the Jewish people in Palestine in the time of the New Testament", In A. du Toit (ed.). Vol. 2: ''The New Testament Milieu'' (A. du Toit, ed.). Guide to the New Testament. Halfway House: Orion Publishers.</ref><ref name="TDONT γυνή">Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964– (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, ed.) (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Entry on ''γυνή''</ref><ref>Gene McAfee [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t120.e0669 "Sex"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085805/http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t120.e0669 |date=28 July 2020 }} The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds. Oxford University Press 1993. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 19 March 2010.</ref>

The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] show that several smaller [[Second Temple Judaism#Jewish sects|Jewish sects]] forbade polygamy before and during the first century.<ref name="Vermès1975">{{cite book|last=Vermès|first=Géza |author-link=Géza Vermès|title=Post-Biblical Jewish Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcYUAAAAIAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-04160-5 |page=76}}</ref><ref name="Brooke2005">{{cite book|last=Brooke|first=George J. |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7TSr36vVkEC|year=2005|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-1-4514-0844-7 |pages=4, 100–101}}</ref><ref name="Murphy2002">{{cite book|last=Murphy|first=Catherine M. |title=Wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Qumran Community |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUPIG-TEKR8C&pg=PA380|year=2002|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-11934-5|page=380}}</ref> The [[Temple Scroll]] (11QT LVII 17–18) seems to prohibit polygamy.<ref name="Brooke2005" /><ref name="Loader2009">{{cite book|last=Loader|first=William |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality: Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Sectarian and Related Literature at Qumran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gVjAdUx-cIC&pg=PA45|year=2009|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0-8028-6391-1|page=45}}</ref> The rabbinical era, beginning with the [[destruction of the Second Temple]] in 70 CE, saw a continuation of some degree of legal acceptance for polygamy. Statements in the [[Talmud]] include, "[If a man declares,] 'Be thou betrothed to half of me,' she is betrothed; 'Half of thee be betrothed to me,' she is not betrothed"<ref name="BTK7a">[[Babylonian Talmud]], [https://www.sefaria.org/Kiddushin.7a.11 Kiddushin 7a]</ref> and elsewhere, "A man may marry wives in addition to the first wife; provided only that he possesses the means to maintain them",<ref name="BTY65a">Babylonian Talmud, [https://www.sefaria.org/Yevamot.65a.7 Yevamot 65a]; compare to {{Bibleverse|Exodus|21:10|HE}}</ref> though another opinion in the Talmud requires divorcing a first wife before taking a second.<ref name=BTY65a/> In practice, polygamy was extremely rare in Jewish society in the Talmudic period.<ref>[[Avraham Grossman]], ''Hasidot umordot: Nashim yehudiyot be-europa biymey habeinayim'', p. 119</ref>

Later on, the Jewish codices began a process of restricting polygamy in Judaism. Most notable was the [[synod]] of [[Gershom ben Judah|Rabbeinu Gershom]], whose rulings were accepted by [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. About 1000 CE he called a synod which instituted the following new laws: (1) prohibition of polygamy; (2) necessity of obtaining the consent of both parties to a divorce; (3) modification of the rules concerning those who became apostates under compulsion; (4) prohibition against opening correspondence addressed to another.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bell | first=Dean Phillip | title=The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography | date=2019 | isbn=978-0-429-45892-7 |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon | oclc=1055160815}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lapidoth|first=Ruth|date=July 1975|title=Israel Yearbook on Human Rights. Edited by Yoram Dinstein and Nitza Shapiro-Libai. [Published under the auspices of the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, vol. I (1971), 464 pp. and vol. II (1972), 391 pp.].|journal=Israel Law Review|volume=10|issue=3|pages=408–412|doi=10.1017/s0021223700005355|s2cid=150208678 |issn=0021-2237}}</ref><ref name="Karras2012"/> Gershon left an exception to his ban on polygamy, called [[heter meah rabbanim]], by which a man separated from his wife - but unable to officially divorce her due to certain extreme circumstances - could instead take a second wife.

Rabbeinu Gershom's ban on polygamy was not adopted by [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic]] communities. Some later Sephardic Jews such as [[Abraham David Taroç]] are known to have multiple wives. Polygamy was common among Jewish communities in the Levant, possibly due to the influence of Muslim society, with 17% of divorce claims by women being due to complaints over husbands taking additional wives.  According to R. [[Joseph Karo]] (16th century author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the [[Shulchan Aruch|''Shulchan Aruch'']]), and many other rabbis from [[Safed]], the ban of Rabbeinu Gershom had expired, and therefore even [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]] could marry additional wives. Even in instances where the husband made prenuptial agreements not to marry additional wives, local rabbis found loopholes to allow them to do so anyway.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lamdan |first1=Ruth |title=Levant: Women in the Jewish Communities after the Ottoman Conquest of 1517 |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/levant-women-in-jewish-communities-after-ottoman-conquest-of-1517 |website=Jewish Women's Archive |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=15 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515120849/https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/levant-women-in-jewish-communities-after-ottoman-conquest-of-1517 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lamdān |first1=Rût |title=A Separate People: Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in the Sixteenth Century |date=2000 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-11747-1 |pages=139–157 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OKlYce7f8iAC&pg=PA139 |access-date=23 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404115524/https://books.google.com/books?id=OKlYce7f8iAC&pg=PA139 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the modern day, polygamy is generally not condoned by Jews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Polygamy is rare around the world and mostly confined to a few regions |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=7 December 2020 |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407072545/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/07/polygamy-is-rare-around-the-world-and-mostly-confined-to-a-few-regions/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>* {{cite news |last1=Sedley |first1=David |title=In defiance of Israeli law, polygamy sanctioned by top rabbis |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-defiance-of-israeli-law-polygamy-sanctioned-by-top-rabbis/ |work=timesofisrael.com |date=2016 |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=6 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906072425/https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-defiance-of-israeli-law-polygamy-sanctioned-by-top-rabbis/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last1=Rosenberg |first1=David |title=Polygamous cult uncovered |url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221373 |work=Israel National News |date=2016 |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=6 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906072429/https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221373 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last1=Mandel |first1=Jonah |title=New Jewish group wants to restore polygamy |url=https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-news/new-jewish-group-wants-to-restore-polygamy |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=2011 |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=6 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906072431/https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-news/new-jewish-group-wants-to-restore-polygamy |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ashkenazi Jews]] have continued to follow Rabbeinu Gershom's ban since the 11th century.<ref>[http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/04-Observance/section-55.html Judaism and Polygamy:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512023008/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/04-Observance/section-55.html |date=12 May 2008 }} "Originally, Gershom's ban was limited in time to the year 1260", and a man "could marry more than one wife if he obtained the special permission of 100 rabbis in 3 countries". From faqs.org</ref> Some [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Jewish communities (particularly [[Yemenite Jews]] and [[Persian Jews]]) discontinued polygyny more recently, after they immigrated to countries where it was forbidden or illegal. [[Israel]] prohibits polygamy by law,<ref>''Penal Law Amendment (Bigamy) Law'', 5719-1959.{{verify source|date=August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=839776|title=The English Law of Bigamy in a Multi-Confessional Society: The Israel Experience|first=P.|last=Shifman|date=29 December 1978|journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law|volume=26|issue=1|pages=79–89|doi=10.2307/839776}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Eglash |first=Ruth |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Israel-2008-State-of-Polygamy |title=Israel 2008: State of Polygamy |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727152222/https://www.jpost.com/Israel/Israel-2008-State-of-Polygamy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aburabia |first=Sarab |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027756.html |title=Victims of polygamy |work=Haaretz |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=5 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705051731/https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027756.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>and Mizrahi Jews are not permitted to enter into new polygamous marriages in Israel, though existing marriages may be maintained. In practice, however, the law is loosely enforced, primarily to avoid interference with [[Bedouin]] culture, where polygyny is practiced.<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027756.html "Victims of polygamy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705051731/https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027756.html |date=5 July 2021 }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20231128083319/https://www.haaretz.com/2008-10-10/ty-article/victims-of-polygamy/0000017f-dbad-df62-a9ff-dfff08da0000 archived], ''Haaretz''</ref> Polygamy may still occur in non-European Jewish communities that exist in countries where it is not forbidden, such as Jewish communities in Iran or Morocco.

Late Sephardic chief rabbi [[Ovadia Yosef]] supported the legalisation by the Israeli government of polygamy and the practice of [[pilegesh]] (the keeping of concubines).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=13900&sec=40&con=35|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414212442/http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=13900&sec=40&con=35|url-status=dead|title=''Polygamy's Practice Stirs Debate in Israel''|archive-date=14 April 2008|access-date=11 June 2009}}</ref> Tzvi Zohar, a professor from the [[Bar-Ilan University]], recently suggested that based on the opinions of leading [[Halacha|halachic]] authorities, the concept of concubines may serve as a practical halachic justification for premarital or non-marital cohabitation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Navon |first=Emmanuel |url=http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=16328 |title=Kosher Sex Without Marriage, a Jerusalem Post article that discusses Jacob Emden's and Tzvi Zohar's views |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=16 March 2006 |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804232538/http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=16328 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://pilegeshpersonals.com/Pilegesh%20Tzvi%20Zohar.pdf |title=Tzvi Zohar's comprehensive academic research on the subject, Akdamot Journal for Jewish Thought 17, 2003, Beit Morasha Press (in Hebrew) |access-date=13 September 2011 |archive-date=24 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824122329/http://pilegeshpersonals.com/Pilegesh%20Tzvi%20Zohar.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Karaite Judaism]] has no rules against polygyny, though the practice itself in modern times is rare, and is not found at all among Karaites living in countries where polygamy is against the law. The husband, however, is only allowed to take other wives if he has the means and ability to treat them equally to the primary wife, and even then only if there was no anti-polygamy clause in their marriage contract from either party. Polyandry, on the other hand, is expressly forbidden.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Olszowy-Schlanger |first=Judith |title=Karaite Women |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/karaite-women |quote=While the marriage of a woman to more than one man at a time is forbidden, a Karaite man could in principle have more than one wife provided he could fulfill all his duties towards both women. However, the right of the husband to take a second wife could be restricted through the inclusion of a special anti-polygamy clause in the betrothal or marriage contract. |access-date=7 February 2024}}</ref>

===Zoroastrianism===
{{See also|Xwedodah}}
There is limited information about polygamy in Zoroastrian tradition. There is no passage in the [[Avesta]] that favors polygamy or [[monogamy]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanjana|first=Darab Datsur Peshotan|title=The Position of Zoroastrian Women in Remote Antiquity|year=1982|location=Bombay|pages=40–43}}</ref> However, tradition holds that [[Zoroaster]] had three wives.<ref>{{cite book | last=West | first=M. L. | title=The Hymns of Zoroaster: a New Translation of the Most Ancient Sacred Texts of Iran. | publisher=I.B. Tauris | isbn=978-1-84885-505-2 | url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/816830360 | date=2010 | others=With Introduction and Commentary by M.L. West. | oclc=816830360 | access-date=27 January 2021 | archive-date=15 April 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415020553/https://www.worldcat.org/title/hymns-of-zoroaster-a-new-translation-of-the-most-ancient-sacred-texts-of-iran/oclc/816830360 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Boyce, Mary.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33664728|title=A history of Zoroastrianism|date=1996|publisher=E.J. Brill|isbn=90-04-10474-7|edition=3rd impression, with corrections|location=Leiden|oclc=33664728|access-date=27 January 2021|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205220523/https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-zoroastrianism/oclc/33664728|url-status=live}}</ref> Polygamy appears to have been a right of spiritual dignitaries and aristocrats.<ref>{{cite web|date=2012-01-24|title=Family Law|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/family-law#i|access-date=2021-01-27|website=iranicaonline.org|archive-date=30 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130053945/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/family-law#i|url-status=live}}</ref> It is mentioned in foreign writings, such as the [[letter of Tansar]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boyce|first=Mary|url=https://archive.org/details/TheLetterOfTansarTranslatedByMaryBoyce|title=The Letter of Tansar}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=For those who were the most virtuous and pious, he chose out princesses, that all might desire virtue and chastity. He was content with one or two wives for himself, and disapproved of having many children, saying: to have many children is fitting for the populace, but kings and nobles take pride in the smallness of their families|author=Tansar|title=|source=}}

It was also written about in the 4th century CE by the Roman soldier and historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], writing about Zoroastrian communities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ammianus Marcellinus|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Ammian/23*.html|access-date=2021-01-27|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Each man according to his means contracts many or few marriages, whence their affection, divided as it is among various objects, grows cold.|author=Ammianus Marcellinus|title=|source=}}

== Legal status ==
{{See also|Legal status of polygamy}}
[[File:Legality of polygamy.svg|thumb|300px
 | <div style="margin:0 0.5em;">
{{legend|#009e73|Polygamy is legal only for Muslims}}
{{legend|#56b4e9|Polygamy is legal}}
{{legend|#0072b2|Polygamy is legal in some regions (Indonesia)}}
{{legend|#d55e00|Polygamy is illegal, but not criminalised in practice}}
{{legend|#000000|Polygamy is illegal and criminalised in practice}}
{{legend|#e0e0e0|Legal status unknown}} </div> 
{{Bulleted list |style=margin:0.5em 0.5em 0.25em;border-top:1px solid#aaa;font-size:94%; |item_style=line-height:1.3em;
| In India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, polygamy is only legal for [[Muslim]]s.
| In Nigeria and South Africa, polygamous marriages under customary law and for Muslims are legally recognized.
}} ]]

===International law===
In 2000, the [[United Nations Human Rights Committee]] reported that polygamy violates the [[ICCPR|International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] (ICCPR), citing concerns that the lack of "equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry" meant that polygamy, restricted to polygyny in practice, violates the dignity of women and should be outlawed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Equality of Rights Between Men and Women |url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/gencomm/hrcom28.htm |publisher=University of Minnesota Human Rights Library |access-date=22 May 2013 |archive-date=2 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402212302/http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/gencomm/hrcom28.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Specifically, reports to UN Committees have noted violations of ICCPR due to these inequalities,<ref>{{cite web |title=OHCHR report |url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/IHRLS_Chad_95.pdf |publisher=Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights |access-date=22 May 2013 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307093134/https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/IHRLS_Chad_95.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and reports to the UN General Assembly have recommended it be outlawed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report of the Human Rights Committee |url=http://www.ccprcentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/A_63_40_Vol.I_E.pdf |publisher=United Nations General Assembly |access-date=22 May 2013 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102072335/https://www.ccprcentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/A_63_40_Vol.I_E.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=GENERAL COMMENTS ADOPTED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE UNDER ARTICLE 40, PARAGRAPH 4, OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS |url=http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/13b02776122d4838802568b900360e80 |publisher=United Nations Human Rights Website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630225551/http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/13b02776122d4838802568b900360e80 |archive-date=30 June 2013 }}</ref>

ICCPR does not apply to countries that have not signed it, which includes many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, Oman, and South Sudan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-4&chapter=4&lang=en|title=United Nations Treaty Collection|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=8 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408174039/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-4&chapter=4&lang=en|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Canada===
Canada has taken a strong stand against polygamy, and the [[Department of Justice (Canada)|Canadian Department of Justice]] has argued that polygyny is a violation of International Human Rights Law, as a form of gender discrimination.<ref>{{cite web |title=POLYGYNY AS A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW |url=http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/poly/chap3.html |publisher=Department of Justice, Government of Canada |date=2006-07-11 |access-date=22 May 2013 |archive-date=13 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513231102/http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/poly/chap3.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In Canada, the federal [[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]] applies throughout the country. It extends the definition of polygamy to having any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time. Also anyone who assists, celebrates, or is a part to a rite, ceremony, or contract that sanctions a polygamist relationship is guilty of polygamy. Polygamy is an offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

In 2017, two Canadian religious leaders were found guilty of practicing polygamy by the [[Supreme Court of British Columbia]].<ref name="bbc.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40709250|title=Canadian polygamists found guilty|date=25 July 2017|publisher=BBC News|access-date=20 July 2018|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109041237/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40709250|url-status=live}}</ref> Both of them are former bishops of the Mormon denomination of the [[Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]] (FLDS).<ref name="bbc.com"/>

===Russia===
{{Excerpt|Polygamy in Russia}}

===United Kingdom===
Bigamy is illegal in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/336403/Polygamous-marriage-not-legal-in-UK|title=Polygamous marriage not legal in UK|first=Daily Express|last=reporter|date=31 July 2012|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=24 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224000251/http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/336403/Polygamous-marriage-not-legal-in-UK|url-status=live}}</ref> ''De facto'' polygamy (having multiple partners at the same time) is not a criminal offence, provided the person does not register more than one marriage at the same time. In the UK, adultery is not a criminal offence (it is only a [[ground for divorce]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/divorce/overview|title=Get a divorce – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=5 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905010115/https://www.gov.uk/divorce/overview|url-status=live}}</ref>). In a written answer to the House of Commons, "In Great Britain, polygamy is only recognized as valid in law in circumstances where the marriage ceremony has been performed in a country whose laws permit polygamy and the parties to the marriage were domiciled there at the time. In addition, immigration rules have generally prevented the formation of polygamous households in this country since 1988."<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |house=House of Commons |date=20 February 2008 |column=755W |speaker=James Plaskitt}}</ref>

The 2010 UK government decided that Universal Credit (UC), which replaces means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age people and will not be completely introduced until 2021, will not recognize polygamous marriages. A House of Commons briefing paper states "Treating second and subsequent partners in polygamous relationships as separate claimants could in some situations mean that polygamous households receive more under Universal Credit than they do under the current rules for means-tested benefits and tax credits. This is because, as explained above, the amounts which may be paid in respect of additional spouses are lower than those which generally apply to single claimants." There is currently no official statistics data on cohabiting polygamous couples who have arranged marriage in religious ceremonies.<ref name=UKPOLY>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn05051.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20181113063153/http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn05051.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 November 2018 |title=House of Commons Library Briefing Paper Number 05051: Polygamy |publisher=[[House of Commons Library]] |date=6 January 2016 }}</ref>

===United States===

[[File:Utah in United States.svg|thumb|Polygamy in [[Utah]] remains a controversial issue that has been subject to legislative battles throughout the years; it is currently an [[infraction]]; and recognition of polygamy is illegal under the [[Constitution of Utah]].]]

{{Further|Legality of polygamy in the United States}}
{{see also|Mormonism and polygamy|Mormon fundamentalism|Current state of polygamy in the Latter Day Saint movement}}

Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states in the U.S.; in [[Utah]] it currently remains a controversial issue that has been subject to legislative battles throughout the years. As of 2020 Utah is the only state where the practice is designated as an [[infraction]] rather than the more serious designation as a crime. However, recognizing polygamous unions is still illegal under the [[Constitution of Utah]].<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/polygamy-is-essentially-decriminalized-in-utah-under-a-bill-signed-into-law|title = Polygamy is essentially decriminalized in Utah under a bill signed into law|date = 29 March 2020|access-date = 27 January 2022|archive-date = 27 January 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220127165713/https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/polygamy-is-essentially-decriminalized-in-utah-under-a-bill-signed-into-law|url-status = live}}</ref> Federal legislation to outlaw the practice was endorsed as constitutional in 1878 by the Supreme Court in ''[[Reynolds v. United States]],'' despite the religious objections of [[Mormonism]]'s largest denomination the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church). The LDS Church subsequently ended the practice of polygamy around the turn of the twentieth century;<ref>{{cite web|title=Official Declaration 1|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng|access-date=2021-08-27|website=churchofjesuschrist.org|archive-date=15 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115012641/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng|url-status=live}}</ref> however, several smaller [[Mormon fundamentalism|fundamentalist Mormon]] groups across the state (not associated with the mainstream Church) continue the practice.

On 13 December 2013, a [[United States district court|federal judge]], spurred by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] and other groups,<ref>[https://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16163prs19990716.html ACLU of Utah to Join Polygamists in Bigamy Fight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018195924/http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16163prs19990716.html |date=18 October 2009 }}, 16 July 1999 press release.</ref> struck down the parts of Utah's bigamy law that criminalized cohabitation, while also acknowledging that the state may still enforce bans on having multiple marriage licenses.<ref name=utahban>{{cite web |url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56894145-78/utah-waddoups-brown-family.html.csp |title=Federal judge declared Utah polygamy law unconstitutional |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |issn=0746-3502 |date=13 December 2013 |access-date=14 December 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304200624/http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56894145-78/utah-waddoups-brown-family.html.csp |url-status=live }}</ref> This decision was overturned by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit]], thus effectively recriminalizing polygamy as a felony.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-utah-polygamy-sisterwives-idUSKCN0X82AJ|title = Appeals court restores Utah's polygamy law in 'Sister Wives' case|work = Reuters|date = 11 April 2016|access-date = 27 January 2022|archive-date = 27 January 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220127181657/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-utah-polygamy-sisterwives-idUSKCN0X82AJ|url-status = live}}</ref> In 2020, Utah voted to downgrade polygamy from a felony to an infraction, but it remains a felony if force, threats or other abuses are involved.<ref>{{cite news  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/utah-bigamy-law.html  |title=Utah Lowers Penalty for Polygamy, No Longer a Felony  |date=2020-05-13  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]  |access-date=2022-02-14  |archive-date=21 January 2022  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121191930/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/utah-bigamy-law.html  |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Prosecutors in Utah have long had a policy of not pursuing polygamy in the absence of other associated crimes (e.g. fraud, abuse, marriage of underage persons, etc.).<ref>{{cite web|title=Brown v. Buhman, No. 14-4117 (10th Cir. 2016)|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/14-4117/14-4117-2016-04-11.html|access-date=2021-08-27|website=Justia Law|language=en|archive-date=27 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827051927/https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/14-4117/14-4117-2016-04-11.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.deseret.com/2011/7/12/20203261/sister-wives-family-to-challenge-utah-bigamy-law |title='Sister Wives' family to challenge Utah bigamy law |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=2011-07-12 |access-date=2022-02-14 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127165712/https://www.deseret.com/2011/7/12/20203261/sister-wives-family-to-challenge-utah-bigamy-law |url-status=live }}</ref> There are about 30,000 people living in polygamous communities in Utah.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/polygamists-face-jail-time-utah-bill-68893806|title = Polygamists may not face jail time under new Utah bill|website = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|access-date = 27 January 2022|archive-date = 27 January 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220127170132/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/polygamists-face-jail-time-utah-bill-68893806|url-status = live}}</ref>

[[Individualist feminism]] and advocates such as [[Wendy McElroy]] and journalist Jillian Keenan support the freedom for adults to voluntarily enter polygamous marriages.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bruce |last=Korol |year=2009 |title=Polygamy is a (al)right |journal=Arts & Opinion |volume=8 |issue=3}} [http://www.wendymcelroy.com/print.php?news.2384 Reprinted] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806052152/http://www.wendymcelroy.com/print.php?news.2384 |date=6 August 2020 }} by Wendy McElroy at wendymcelroy.com</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Jillian |last=Keenan |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/04/legalize_polygamy_marriage_equality_for_all.html |title=Legalize Polygamy! No. I am not kidding |journal=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=15 April 2013 |access-date=15 November 2014 |archive-date=10 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510163110/http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/04/legalize_polygamy_marriage_equality_for_all.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Authors such as Alyssa Rower and Samantha Slark argue that there is a case for legalizing polygamy on the basis of regulation and monitoring of the practice, legally protecting the polygamous partners and allowing them to join mainstream society instead of forcing them to hide from it when any public situation arises.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=25740483|title=The Legality of Polygamy: Using the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment|first=ALYSSA|last=ROWER|date=29 December 2017|journal=Family Law Quarterly|volume=38|issue=3|pages=711–731}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Slark |first1=Samantha |title=Are Anti-Polgygamy Laws an Unconstitutional Infringement on the Liberty Interests of Consenting Adults? |journal=Journal of Law and Family Studies |date=2004 |volume=6 |pages=451–460 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jlfst6&div=36&id=&page= |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511125157/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jlfst6&div=36&id=&page= |url-status=live }}</ref>

In an October 2004 op-ed for ''[[USA Today]]'', [[George Washington University]] law professor [[Jonathan Turley]] argued that, as a simple matter of equal treatment under the law, polygamy ought to be legal. Acknowledging that underage girls are sometimes coerced into polygamous marriages, Turley replied that "banning polygamy is no more a solution to child abuse than banning marriage would be a solution to spousal abuse".<ref>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-03-turley_x.htm "Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623223258/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-03-turley_x.htm |date=23 June 2021 }}. Jonathan Turley, ''USA Today'' (3 March 2004)</ref>

[[Stanley Kurtz]], a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] fellow at the [[Hudson Institute]], rejects the decriminalization and legalization of polygamy. He stated:

{{Blockquote|Marriage, as its ultramodern critics would like to say, is indeed about choosing one's partner, and about freedom in a society that values freedom. But that's not the only thing it is about. As the Supreme Court justices who unanimously decided Reynolds in 1878 understood, marriage is also about sustaining the conditions in which freedom can thrive. Polygamy in all its forms is a recipe for social structures that inhibit and ultimately undermine social freedom and democracy. A hard-won lesson of Western history is that genuine democratic self-rule begins at the hearth of the monogamous family.<ref name="Polygamy vs. Democracy">[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/266jhfgd.asp?nopager=1 "Polygamy vs. Democracy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917015638/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/266jhfgd.asp?nopager=1 |date=17 September 2015 }}. ''The Weekly Standard''. Published: 5 June 2006.</ref>}}

In January 2015, Pastor Neil Patrick Carrick of Detroit, Michigan, brought a case (''[[Carrick v. Snyder]]'') against the State of Michigan that the state's ban of polygamy violates the [[Free Exercise Clause|Free Exercise]] and [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the U.S. Constitution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dockets.justia.com/docket/michigan/miedce/5:2015cv10108/297820 |title=Carrick v. Snyder et al |work=Justia Dockets & Filings |access-date=17 February 2015 |archive-date=10 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510192718/https://dockets.justia.com/docket/michigan/miedce/5:2015cv10108/297820 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/01/13/minister-sues-mich-right-marry-sex-couples/21718645/ |title=Minister sues Mich. for right to marry same-sex couples |author=Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit News |date=13 January 2015 |work=The Detroit News |access-date=17 February 2015 |archive-date=10 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510194220/https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/01/13/minister-sues-mich-right-marry-sex-couples/21718645/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The case was dismissed with prejudice on 10 February 2016, for lack of standing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Judge|first=JUDITH E. LEVY, District|title=CARRICK v. SNYDER {{!}} Case No. 15-cv-10108. {{!}} By... {{!}} 20160211c62{{!}} Leagle.com|url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20160211c62|access-date=2021-09-08|website=Leagle|language=en|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916093234/https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20160211c62|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Indonesia ===
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country. Most polygamous families in the country are of Muslim background; they may also be aristocrats, registered civil servants, Islamic students (santri), and wholesalers.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://historia.id/kultur/articles/angka-poligami-dari-masa-ke-masa-vgXwV | title=Angka Poligami dari Masa ke Masa | date=25 June 2019 | access-date=24 November 2022 | archive-date=24 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124075645/https://historia.id/kultur/articles/angka-poligami-dari-masa-ke-masa-vgXwV | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kemenpppa.go.id/index.php/page/read/29/3140/poligami-tak-sesuai-syariat-berpotensi-rugikan-perempuan | title=Kementerian Pemberdayaan Perempuan Dan Perlindungan Anak | access-date=24 November 2022 | archive-date=24 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124075646/https://www.kemenpppa.go.id/index.php/page/read/29/3140/poligami-tak-sesuai-syariat-berpotensi-rugikan-perempuan | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Constitutionally, Indonesia (basically) only recognizes monogamy. But, government allows polygamy in some conditions:
* The wife cannot carry out her obligations as a wife.
* The wife has a physical disability or an incurable disease.
* The wife cannot bear children.

There are other requirements for registered civil servants.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://msscounsel.com/2021/11/15/poligami-dalam-sistem-hukum-republik-indonesia/ | title=Poligami Dalam Sistem Hukum Republik Indonesia | date=15 November 2021 | access-date=24 November 2022 | archive-date=24 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124075645/http://msscounsel.com/2021/11/15/poligami-dalam-sistem-hukum-republik-indonesia/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hukumonline.com/klinik/a/hukum-poligami-dan-prosedurnya-yang-sah-di-indonesia-lt5136cbfaaeef9 | title=Hukum Poligami dan Prosedurnya yang Sah di Indonesia - Klinik Hukumonline | date=7 July 2018 | access-date=24 November 2022 | archive-date=24 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124075654/https://www.hukumonline.com/klinik/a/hukum-poligami-dan-prosedurnya-yang-sah-di-indonesia-lt5136cbfaaeef9 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Nazi plans for post-war Germany==

In [[Nazi Germany]], there was an effort by [[Martin Bormann]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]] to introduce new legislation concerning plural marriage. The argument ran that after the war, 3 to 4 million women would have to remain unmarried due to the great number of soldiers fallen in battle. In order to make it possible for these women to have children, a procedure for application and selection for suitable men (i.e. decorated war heroes) to enter a marital relationship with an additional woman was planned. The privileged position of the first wife was to be secured by awarding her the title ''[[Dominus (title)|Domina]]''.<ref name="fest686">{{cite book |last=Fest |first=Joachim C. |author-link=Joachim Fest |title=Hitler |publisher=Verlag Ulstein |year=1973|page=686|isbn=0-15-602754-2}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Human sexuality|Society|Law|Religion|Latter Day Saint movement}}
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order & add a short description [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
{{div col|colwidth=20em|small=yes}}
* [[Polygyny]]
* [[Polyandry]]
* [[Bigamy]]
* [[Polyamory]]
* [[Conflict of marriage laws#Polygamy|Conflict of marriage laws]]
* [[Legal status of polygamy]]
* [[List of polygamy court cases]]
* [[More danico]]
* [[Ménage à trois]]
* [[Polyday]]
* [[Serial monogamy]]
* [[Types of marriages]]
* [[Unicorn hunting]]
* [[List of people with the most children]]
{{div col end}}
<!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{notelist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | last = Boserup | first = Ester | author-link = Ester Boserup | contribution = The economics of polygamy | editor-last1 = Grinker | editor-first1 = Roy Richard | editor-last2 = Steiner | editor-first2 = Christopher B. | title = Perspectives on Africa: a reader in culture, history, and representation | pages = [https://archive.org/details/perspectivesonaf00royr/page/506 506–517] | publisher = Blackwell | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1997 | isbn = 9781557866868 | url = https://archive.org/details/perspectivesonaf00royr/page/506 }}
* {{cite book |author=Cairncross, John |title=After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy |location=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1974 |url=http://www.patriarchpublishinghouse.com/3345.htm}}
* {{cite book |author=Chapman, Samuel A. |title=Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law |publisher=Xlibris Corp |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-4010-1244-1}}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* {{cite book |author=Hillman, Eugene |title=Polygamy Reconsidered: African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches |location=New York |publisher=Orbis Books |isbn=978-0-88344-391-0 |year=1975}}
* {{cite book |title=World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective |edition=First |last=Korotayev |first=Andrey |author-link=Andrey Korotayev |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7734-6310-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Van Wagoner, Richard S. |author-link=Richard S. Van Wagoner |title=Mormon Polygamy: A History |edition=2nd |year=1992 |location=Utah |publisher=Signature Books |isbn=978-0-941214-79-7}}
* {{cite book |first=E. O. |last=Wilson |author-link=E. O. Wilson |title=Sociobiology: The New Synthesis |publisher=Harvard Univ Pr |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-674-00235-7|title-link=Sociobiology: The New Synthesis }}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|Portal:Polygamy}}
{{Commons category|Polygamy}}
{{wikibooks|Relationships/Monogamy and Polygamy}}
{{wikiversity|Should polygamy be legal?}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061001201253/http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/08-06.html History of Polygamy in Judaism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118073048/http://www.life.com/gallery/49551/rare-life-with-polygamists-1944#index/0 "LIFE with Polygamists", 1944]—slideshow by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' {{dead link|date=October 2019}}
* [http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1224-5-things-i-learned-as-mormon-polygamist-wife.html 5 Things I Learned as a Mormon Polygamous Wife]

{{Polygamous marriage}}
{{Close plural relationships}}
{{Types of marriages|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Crimes]]
[[Category:Polygamy| ]]
[[Category:Mating systems]]
[[Category:Religion and politics]]