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A large body of work on consensual unions suggests a unitary household conception of consensual unions either as a precursor or an alternative to marriage. Another set of literature, though quite scanty, reveals gender differences in experiences in consensual unions. This paper adds to the argument that attitudes towards intimate relationships and marriage can be gendered. As a result, one partner may hope for the conversion of a consensual union to marriage whilst the other would not. The paper interrogates the ways in which the socio-cultural context of Ghana influences the gendered attitudes towards consensual unions as a form of intimate partnership and creates a sense of 'commitment phobia' particularly for men. To do this, thirty-one people with varying ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds were purposively sampled. In-depth interviews were conducted separately for the individual partners. The paper concludes that contrary to the unitary household conception of consensual unions, there is a gendered conceptualisation of these unions where women are more likely to think of consensual unions as a precursor to marriage while men think of it as an alternative to marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are no accurate data on the prevalence of polygamy in Palestinian society in Israel, but many estimates indicate that polygamy is about 20/36 percent of Bedouin households. Moreover, in the past three decades, there has been a consistent increase in the number of polygamous marriages in the Arab Bedouin sector. Under international law, polygamy is perceived as discriminatory and is associated with all forms of harms to women: physical, mental, sexual, reproductive, and economic. Under the Israeli law, according to the punitive code, polygamy is a criminal offence. However, under the Sharia law, that governs family laws for Muslims in Israel, polygamy is permitted. As a consequence, due to the fact that the state does not enforce the punitive code for the Bedouin citizens, polygamous marriage is valid and practiced. This ambivalence of the Israeli legislature and the legal system violates the human rights of Arab Bedouin women and creates a situation in which they are excluded from the law by the different legal systems: criminal law, the Shari'a and customary law. It raises significant questions about Arab Bedouin women's citizenship and human rights and about the role of family laws in the Zionist-Jewish state, i.e., a state that segregates Bedouin society by supporting the traditional tribal system and by condoning practices such as polygamy. The analyses of these issues, which illustrate the strength of the "fortress nation" at the global era, constitute the main axis of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PETER ABRAHAMSON & CECILIE WEHNER, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, 22 Linnesgade, DK-1361 Copenhagen K Family and/or Work in Europe? Cet article prend comme point de depart la classification […]

The article presents information on neo-polygamous activity in the Negev Desert in Israel. The author looks at Muslim Arab bedouin citizens and their practice of polygyny in the 21st century in Israel. The article also discusses polygynous relationships with women of different ethnic backgrounds, the political implications that polygamous relationships can have on Israel, and the popularity of alternative relationships in the Negev bedouin community. The author argues that neo-polygyny in Israel can be attributed to Israel's sedentarization initiative.

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of polygamy on the upbringing of children by examining whether polygamous marital structures are beneficial or harmful to children. To obtain data, the researchers conducted two focus group interviews using the multiple case study design, including, talking with twenty one family members from polygamous marriages in Jordan. The results indicated that the husbands felt that polygamy does not adversely affect the family. Husbands also felt that they are the ones responsible for the family's welfare, in addition to providing their children with all the care and support possible. The wives felt that the care, upbringing, and education of their children was customary, and their spouses did not hold back on any of their responsibilities. They declared that their husbands provided education, proper housing for their children, helped them with their wedding expenses, and there were no effects of multiplicity. They showed their comfort with polygamy as they support such a practice with the condition of being financially supportive and the ability to be fair. Responses of children revealed that their fathers treated them normally, and as siblings, children love each other and did not have any differences. As for polygamy, children support such a practice as a solution to spinsterhood. The researchers believe that it would be valuable to conduct additional research to detect the perspectives of not only those who are involved in polygamous marriages but also other Jordanians from monogamous marriages in order to clearly detect their views of polygamy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the result of a study which compares and contrasts the recent and contemporary nuptiality among Maasai men in Kenya and Tanzania. It focuses on Maasai marriages in the rural sub-Saharan African populations which are undergoing socio-economic changes. Data reveals that polygamous marriage account for the significant proportion of Maasai marriages revealing 9.8 percent in Kenya, while 15 percent in Tanzania. Considering that Kenya is more advanced compared to Tanzania, it is noted that socio-economic changes can influence Maasai marriages.

The article evaluates the prevalence of cohabitation in Botswana. The study shows that the country has one of the highest levels of cohabitation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The high cohabitation level is not correlated to male labor migration to South Africa, decline of polygamy, Botswana women's access to education, and enhanced legal status of unmarried women. Rather, constant population mobility, population's response to the marriage squeeze, and high prevalence of premarital childbearing contributed to the high cohabitation levels.

gThis article explores the monandrous marriage arrangements marriages simultaneously involving one or more females but only one male are universally preferred. The formal object of analysis is marriage wherein spouses are socially legitimate sexual partners to one another, and wherein, to paraphrase Kathleene Gough, a child born of the union is accorded full birth-status rights common to normal members of his society or social stratum.. There may be forms of, say, concubinage, that satisfy this definition, but this should not affect the argument, and, in general, adultery, concubinage, and other non-marital mating forms are not my concern now. Wherever polyandry occurs, polygyny co-occurs. In most instances, this probably encompasses polygynandry. The reverse, of course, is not the case, for polygyny occurs commonly where polyandry and polygynandry do not. Monogamy occurs, perforce, pernhance, or perchoice, in all societies in which it is not the norm. Fraternal polyandry is always co-residential. That is, while the brother-husbands may spend considerable time traveling, their normatively accepted permanent domicile is with the common wife.

The extent to which cross-cultural variation in marital structure may be explained by economic factors has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate. The occasional occurrence of polygyny in the wealthier strata of industrializing societies, therefore, does not appear to be explicable in terms of the economic utility of the practice. Many textbook treatments suggest that polygyny occurs with limited frequency in such societies because of the expert entailed in the support of multiple wives, which would not be the issue if wives themselves contributed to the family's potential. The interpretation of this pattern requires recognition of the fact that polygyny may contribute to a family's productivity as an economic unit in two very different ways under different circumstances. In subsistence types where women are highly involved in productive activities, families can produce food in direct proportion to the number of women they contain. Polygyny is thus a means of expanding a family's productive capacities directly, by increasing the familial labor force. This occurs primarily in gathering and agricultural economies, where women typically play major roles in production. In these economic systems, then, the greater the actual contribution of women to subsistence, the higher the probability that polygyny is culturally endorsed.

Scholars have tended to explain the practice of polygyny in terms of three explanations: a sexual explanation, a demographic explanation, and an economic explanation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the practice of Mormon polygyny from a theoretical perspective. After analyzing the literature relating to Mormon polygyny, as well as first hand accounts of this practice, I conclude that these three justifications have little to offer in terms of explaining why the Mormons practiced polygyny. The impetus for polygyny among the Mormons appears to have been ideological, while its demise appears to have been related to material factors. The theoretical ideas of the Weberian tradition offer a more useful explanation for Mormon polygyny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyandry, the marriage of woman to two or more men, is a rare form of marriage that has engendered much controversy and speculation. This paper examines how certain ethnocentric and/ or androcentric biases have hindered the objective study of polyandry and explanations for its existence. A synthesis of the characteristics shared by polyandrous societies is also presented, in order to further our understanding of the conditions under which polyandry might be practiced and culturally endorsed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]