Historically, marriage is to be consumated by adult male and female with intent to care for one another and procreate offsprings. marriage between one man to more than one woman is polygamy while marriage between a man and a woman is monogamy.
The topic is whether to agree or disagree with man marrying more than one wife. Anyway, issue of marriage is a case of mixed bags. It comes with different colouration ,varies from one community to another based on different diverged religion and beliefs. All the same marriages are for human beings.
Psychologist did some research on why men are practicing polygamy system of marriage, the following reasons were gotten:
- The complexity of choice fizzle out, hence husband is left with much to move around with
- When parting with one, there are still others to show love.
- The practice increases the number of nucleus family, sometimes it is used to boost social status
- Sharing of house chores and children rearing .
- It increases the wealth of the family as various women will add to the financial strength of the family.
Going by history, polygamy were practiced to protect widows and orphans during war times. Thank God war time is over but men still practice it till today.
Purpose of practicing polygamy.
- Religious background in our clime, Islamic faithfuls married more than a wife.
- Societal attachment to boost status among peer group.
- Economic reasons; more wives will add more input to the family vault and way back children are sent to work in the farms for better and bountiful harvest.
- Reproduction- The more the wives ,the more the children.
- Spiritual reasons – some men are advised through divine consultation to go for more than a wife.
Consequences of the practice:
- Sense of competition among the children & wives which sometimes lead to rancor and untimely death due to spiritual attacks.
- Unhappiness among the family.
- Loneliness on the part of the wives that fall out of favor of the husband.
- Lack of intimacy because it’s not easy for a man to satisfy several women at the same time.
by Rasheed Awofeso