Co-Wife Conflict and Co-operation

Conventional wisdom holds that the polygynous family system is as sexually and emotionally satisfying as a monogamous one.Ethnographic accounts of 69 polygynous systems, however, provide compelling evidence that the majority of co-wives in a polygynous family prefer pragmatic co-operation with one another while maintaining a respectful distance.Moreover, there often is a deep-seated feeling of angst that arises over competing for access to their mutual husband.Co-wife conflict in the early years of marriage is pervasive, and often marked by outbursts of verbal or physical violence.Co-wife conflict may be mitigated by social institutions, such as sororal polygyny and some form of "social security" or health care.Material wealth may be divided more or less equally, but as a husband's sexual attention (a primary source for increased fertility) and affection cannot always be equitably distributed, there is ongoing and contentious rivalry among co-wives.(Co-wife conflict, jealousy, co-operation, pair bond) Cultural anthropologists generally assume that humans are highly adaptable to a wide range of life circumstances.Less accepted is the qualification that "cultural models can have significant psychic costs for individuals" (Shore 1996:49).The assumption of enormous adaptability has also been challenged by many anthropologists (see Brown 1990 for overview) concerned with the topics of reproduction and family intimacy.For example, some (Ekvall 1968; Levine and Silk 1997) find that the fraternal polyandrous marriage system is unstable largely due to sexual and emotional factors, rather than economic considerations.Research on co-wife relationships in polygynous families find them to be emotionally unsatisfactory for the majority of participants (Al-Krenawi 1999; Al-Krenawi and