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The structure of Ghanaian families has significantly changed over the years. Even so, some features of the traditional Ghanaian family have remained. For instance, polygynous families continue to be common. This study examined relationships between family structure and intimate partner violence among women in Ghana. Specifically, we investigated differences in the IPV experiences of women in polygynous families compared to those in monogamous families, and we explored the mechanisms linking polygyny with IPV. We used data on 2,289 ever-married Ghanaian women aged 18 years and above and applied random-effects logit models to determine differences in the IPV risks for women in the two family structures. A higher proportion of women in polygynous families were unemployed than their comparators in monogamous families, and they had lower levels of education. They had limited autonomy and strong patriarchal values and were significantly more likely to experience physical, sexual, and emotional/psychological violence. Their IPV risk was exacerbated by their lack of socio-economic empowerment, limited autonomy, and strong belief in patriarchal norms. Net of these factors, polygynous women were still disadvantaged, pointing to existing unobserved differences between the two family structures or differences in family dynamics, with implications for IPV. We propose that policy makers provide educational and employment opportunities for women in general, while targeting polygynous women with specific interventions to improve their self-efficacy and autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Polygamy has declined in the last decade, but it is still prevalent in West African nations including Ghana even with the arrival of Christianity and colonists, which came to be recognized as a form of slavery that needed to be abolished. Aim: To analyze the determinants of polygyny among married Christian women in Ghana. Methods: Ghana Maternal Health Survey data was used for this study to do an analytic cross-section study. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. The association between dependent and independent variables was explored using chi-square and logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The prevalence of Ghanaian Christian women's involvement in polygyny marriage union was 12.2%, the prevalence was higher (15.0%) among women of Anglican denomination, catholic denomination (13.9%), and the lowest (8.4%) prevalence recorded among those of Methodist denominations. The predictor factors identified include the age of the woman, history of education, type of place of residence, region, ethnicity, early sex initiation, and history of multiple unions. Conclusion: The prevalence of polygyny in this present study is high given the strict position the Christian religion has against polygyny. This study recommends that the pros and cons of polygyny are objectively looked at from a scientific point rather than a religious point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence against intimate partners threatens public health and social cohesion, and its prevalence could increase with an attitude of justification of such violence. The objective of this article was to use religion and ethnicity as proxies for culture to examine Ghanaian women’s acceptance of being beaten. We employed descriptive and binary logistic regression statistics applied to Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data collected in 2011 in Ghana. With a weighted sample of 10,627 women, the findings revealed that more than half (59.83%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 57.41%, 62.2%) of the respondents justified at least one form of intimate partner violence (IPV) or another and being a Mole-Dagbani (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.41; 95%; CI = 1.05, 1.90) and/or in a polygamous marriage/union (AOR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.420) were significant risk factors for justifying IPV. Activism in promoting IPV-free communities has to be group-specific to reach those in need of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines whether polygynous marriages are beneficial to women in Ghana. While some scholars claim that women benefit from such marriages in terms of higher consumption or leisure time, others believe that such relationships can be oppressive for women, as compared to monogamous relationships. Using household data from the 2005/6 Ghanaian Living Standards Measurement Survey V and the 2008 Ghanaian Demographic Health Survey, this study finds little evidence to support the view that women experience economic benefits from these unions. Polygynous women in Ghana tend to be more accepting of and experience more domestic violence, and they have less decision-making power within the household than women in monogamous marriages. Thus, there seems to be more evidence to support the view of polygyny as an oppressive institution rather than the outcome of a woman's rational choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Polygyny, the practice of taking more than one wife at the same time is a common practice in several countries including Africa. This study, conducted in Ghana, West Africa, investigated married women's experiences in polygyny and their ways of coping. Methods: Using exploratory qualitative methodology, data were collected from 15 married women who consented to in-depth interviews. The study was conducted in the summer of 2005 with approval from an institutional review board and permission from community leaders from the study site. Findings: Three themes emerged from the study: infertility, co-wives' relationships and ways of coping. The findings indicated that infertility was the number one reason that women allowed for co-wives in their marriages because this was necessary to protect the marriage rather than divorce. Unhappiness, loneliness, sense of competition and jealousy, and lack of intimacy with the spouse were identified as disadvantages of polygyny. The perceived advantages of polygyny included sharing of house chores and child rearing. The women's ways of coping included the use of religion, faith and a strong sisterly bond formed with the co-wives. Though the majority of the women disapproved of polygyny unions, divorce was not an option. Conclusion: These findings have implications for nursing and policy-makers. Nurses can provide education and implement programmes that teach coping mechanisms and stress management. Policy-makers should be made aware of the implications of polygynous marriages on women's health and well-being. There is the need to conduct more research to investigate the effects of polygyny on women's mental health and the need to develop programmes to support women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many societies, foods are preferentially channeled to certain members of the household. We studied whether being the child of a powerful household member (head of household or first wife in a polygynous family) was associated with greater child stature in Northern Ghana and how this association varied with differences in household food availability. We used a sample of 464 children between 9 and 36 mo of age in extended households in rural Northern Ghana. Child stature was regressed on household food availability, the status of the child's father (head of household or other male), the status of the child's mother (marital order in a polygynous marriage), and the interaction terms between household food availability and parental status. The models were controlled for child age, sex, maternal height, parity, household size, and potential intra-community clustering. Household dietary diversity was associated with child stature (P < 0.051, but this association was limited to children of the head of household. For children of other males, there was no quantifiable association between household dietary diversity and child stature. Children of monogamous mothers were taller than children of second wives (P < 0.05). Our findings show that studies of intra-household allocation need to investigate beyond gender differences. Other structural household factors need to be considered in designing interventions, because they affect impact and even lead to increased intra-household inequality. Our results are relevant for Northern Ghana and as well as for similar settings elsewhere in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in monogamous unions enjoyed more reproductive control than their polygynous counterparts prior to the onset of Ghana's fertility transition. However, as the transition progressed, men's relative influence grew, and it grew more in monogamous marriages than in polgynous ones. As men select into monogamy on the basis of lower (but not low) fertility desires, the pressure on their wives to fulfill those desires seems greater. In contrast, junior wives of polygynously married men may be under pressure to cease childbearing; even relatively high fertility goals have dropped enough that they seldom require expending the full reproductive potential of more than one wife. Differences by lineage type are modest, but the influence of matrilineal women decreased during early fertility transition. Even though lower fertility is commonly associated with reproductive autonomy, the subgroups of Ghanaian women having more influence in reproductive decision-making under traditional fertility regimes—the monogamous and also the matrilineal—lost relative power during early fertility transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the problem of polygyny as it has been, and should be addressed in the North African country of Ghana. Ghana has three separate laws that govern the rights of marriage. These are the Marriage Ordinance, the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance and the customary law. In 1985, the Ghanaian government passed the Customary Marriage and Divorce (Registration) Law and the Interstate Succession Law of 1985. The two laws were complimentary and were designed to create a more unified system of registration and interstate succession. In 1992, Ghana reaffirmed its dedication to equality and gender progress by adopting a constitution that clearly guarantees equal rights for women. From a constitutional standpoint, polygyny discriminates against women solely on the basis of their gender. As will be established in this note, polygyny denies women, inter alia, equal rights to choose a partner, equal access to education, and equal rights to choose a profession, solely on the basis of their gender. As a result, polygyny violates several provisions of the Ghanaian Constitution and should be prohibited.

The article examines the effect of polygyny on gender relations and reproductive processes in Ghana. Generally missing in these studies is an examination of the link between polygyny levels and the pattern of gender relations observed in an area. Understanding the effect of aggregate polygyny levels on the nature and pattern of gender relations may be central to our understanding of the effects of polygyny on reproductive processes. In this study an attempt to examine these effects by using primarily qualitative data from Ghana was made. The high prevalence of polygyny in an area, being itself a product of social inequality between sexes, acts to reinforce and perpetuate this inequality through cultural norms and prescriptions that govern gender relations, and these norms and prescriptions apply equally to both monogamous and polygynous couples. In areas with higher prevalence of polygyny, married women-both in monogamous and polygynous unions are more marginalized in social, economic, and reproductive decision-making, compared to areas with lower polygyny levels. In a higher-polygyny environment women's position and roles in the household are seen as easily replaceable, which undermines their relative bargaining position vis-a-vis their husbands in major household decisions.

This study examines the role of marriage form in infant mortality and tests the relative effects and mechanisms through which polygyny affects infant survival. A sample of infants born in the 5 years preceding the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey was used. A causal model was constructed and polygyny was found to be an important mediating factor in understanding infant survival. The findings highlight the relevance of family structure (polygyny) as an intervening factor, but also reveal the complex role of ethnicity, dietary supplement and birth interval in accounting for infant survival. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a study that investigated some social and economic factors that may be associated with the types of marriages Ghanaian women enter. In Ghana, both monogamous and polygynous marriages exist and are socially and legally acceptable. Also marriage, be it monogamy or polygyny, is not only a union between spouses but, more importantly, it is an alliance between two families or kin groups. The type of marriage that has attracted much attention is polygyny because it is widely practiced and believed to have contributed to high fertility in the region. The information on education and type of marriage indicates a positive association between education and monogamy and an inverse association between education and polygyny. Thus, marriage type varied with level of education. The high frequency of polygyny among Ghanaians may be attributed to the traditional outlook on life of residents who still consider polygyny as a symbol of status. Moreover, a support system is available for raising children which is usually provided unconditionally by all kinsfolk. This may encourage people to have as many children as they can through plural marriage since the onus of child-raising does not fall on the shoulders of parents alone.

The article reports on the results of research on the link between marriage and child mortality which was conducted in Ghana. Researchers evaluated data from Ghana Demographic and Health surveys conducted between 1998 and 2003 which evaluated 4,938 children. After using multivariate analysis which controlled for social and demographic factors, researchers found that children born from polygvnous marriages had a greater risk than those born from monogamous marriages of dying before the age of five.