210 MARRIAGE AND GENDER RELATIONS and polygynist men reported both economic advan ostpartum, but tages and disadvantages to the practice of polygyny, he belief common in polygynous societies that men although most men professed to favor monogamy In need more than one woman. Sexual variety may be he views of the majority who favored monogamy, the achieved by acquiring another wife Polygynous men main disadvantage of polygyny, as they saw it, was an are more likely to turn to one of their other wives for economic one. They found, for example, that the gratification while another one is sexually abstaining notion of the large polygynous family as a social secu- Only 38 percent of polygynous men in the rural area rity investment is now being replaced by the problems had their most recent sexual experience outside of associated with educating children during an ex marriage,and in the urban area 44 percent of polygy tended period of their life cycle. It must be pointed nous mens most recent sexual partners were women out, however, that these are view of men who are other than their wives. These data suggest that, at least faced with the prospect of polygyny in a modern econ- in this society, monogamous men are much more omy for which many of the advantages of the past are likely to have extramarital partners than are polygy- not available to them. One of the frequently men nous men However, we see the opposite pattern for tioned circumstances resulting in polygyny is the prac- female respondents. Thirty-four percent of rural tice of labor migration, in which many Africans travel polygynous wives and 47 percent of urban polyg away from their home areas in search of cash income. nous wives reported that their most recent sexual For these men, polygyny provides a solution to the encounter was an extramarital one. Only 14 percent of problem of being required to spend lengthy periods monogamous rural women and 36 percent of their away from their home families. Thus, one wife may urban counterparts reported that their most recent sex- visit the husband in town while the other one cares for ual partner was someone other than their spouse the rural homestead. Polygynist wives may also share (Orubuloye, J. Caldwell, and P. Caldwell 1990: 12) labor and keep each other company in the rural area Thus, it appears that polygyny allows greater sexual when the husband is away (Moller and Welch equality, at least in terms of extramarital sexual rela- 1990:208). tions, than does monogamy. Future research on mari- One serendipitous finding from this study was relationships within monogamous and polygynous that polygynist men reported higher-quality work households should attempt a closer examination of de lives than did monogamous men. The former had facto male and female balance of power and responsi- higher job satisfaction, more voluntary retirement, bet- bilities within these two marital forms ter health, and higher degrees of social adjustment, including a better adjustment to aging and retirement ery significantly, Moller and Welch discovered that in DELOCALIZED POLYGYNY a mood index analysis, polygynous men overall felt less lonely and neglected than other men in the survey The fate of polygyny in Africa is very much caught up It may be that part of this positive mood adjustment in the processes of moral and economic change. The can be seen by reference to spiritual values in Zulu churches vary considerably in terms of overt condem- society as men age. The older cohorts of returned nation of polygyny, with the mainstream churches migrants are more likely to be traditionally oriented being predominantly opposed and many independent lifestyles,sinceitmaybeselytochoosepolygynouschurchesbeingfavorabletowardpolygyny.commu- tors. More research needs to be done in this area, how- polygyny have changed as well, and elders and other ever, before onclude that the practice of traditional moral leaders have lost the authority they polygyny per se has a directly positive effect on the had in the past when practices like polygyny were morale of these men closely monitored. One finds, for example, that toda There is not much evidence available to conside in Kenya, many men who traditionally would not whether polygyny does cut down on male infidelit have been considered acceptable as polygynist in but one recent study conducted in Nigeria by Orubu- terms of their economic resources are practicing polyg loye, Caldwell, and Caldwell (1990) suggests that it ly because community sanctions no longer operate might In this extensive survey done in the Kiki dis- with the same degree of salience as in the past. As tra trict of Nigeria, the researchers found that for monga- ditions change and the modern economy and moral mous males in the rural area, 56 percent of their most order impose themselves more and more into the recent sexual experiences were outside their mar- everyday lives of people, polygyny increasingly takes riages;this figure rose to 67 percent in the urban area on a negative ambiance. Much of the current female Contributing to this practice is sexual abstinence dur- opposition to polygyny may in fact be related to the