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Polygyny and Women’s Status: Myths and Evidence

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Gender Equality

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definitions

Polygyny:

The most common and accepted form of polygamy, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Today, polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any other continent, and most countries which permit polygyny are Muslim-majority countries.

Women’s status:

A term that describes women’s situation in both absolute terms and in terms relative to men. The focus on women’s status measurement has typically been on women’s access to, and utilization of, information and resources (e.g., access to education, access to cash employment, access to health services, etc.).

Introduction

Polygyny is still a defining feature of family life throughout several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In many West African countries including Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, and Benin, between 20% and 40% of women report being in a polygynous union (Jacoby 1995; Westoff 2003; Fenske 2015). Polygyny is common in East and South Africa as well, yet prevalence is lower on...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Centre on Population Dynamics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Luca Maria Pesando

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  1. Luca Maria Pesando
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Correspondence to Luca Maria Pesando .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Amanda Lange Salvia

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Biology, CESAM Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Andréia Faraoni Freitas Setti

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Pesando, L.M. (2020). Polygyny and Women’s Status: Myths and Evidence. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_141-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_141-1

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