Polygyny and Women's Health in Rural Mali

Abstract

Women's social networks and social power are increasingly seen as important factors modulating their health in sub-Saharan Africa. Polygyny, a common marital structure in many societies, mediates important intra-household relationships by requiring both competition and cooperation among co-wives. Using mixed methods, semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 298 women aged 15 to 84 living in the Kolondiéba region of rural Mali in 1999, and supplemented by detailed interviews with 40 women. Three categories of outcome were explored: illness experience, therapeutic itinerary, and social support received. Quantitative data were analyzed using regression analysis and qualitative data using a grounded theory approach. In quantitative analyses, controlling for age and household wealth index, senior wives were less likely to be escorted to a healer by their husbands during illness than were junior wives or monogamous women. Polygynous women were also less likely to obtain a treatment for which there was a monetary fee. Fewer than one third of polygynous women reported the assistance of a co-wife during illness in any given task. In qualitative analyses, women further related varied mechanisms through which polygyny impacted their health trajectories. These ranged from strongly supportive relationships, to jealousy because of unequal health or fertility, bias in emotional and material support provided by husbands, and accusations of wrong-doing and witchcraft. This study highlights the need for more prospective mixed methods analyses to further clarify the impact of polygyny on women's health-related experiences and behaviors in sub-Saharan Africa.

Polygyny and Resources for Empowerment and Equality in Anglo-Phone West Africa: Implications for Childbearing and Women’s Well-Being

“…Educated and economically empowered women often confront inequalities within marital unions. This is one of the reasons why polygyny thrives more among uneducated and rural women (Gyimah 2009;Bove et al 2013). The co-wives conflict and competition that exists in polygynous women also work in favour of male dominance of the family by ensuring that the wives don't have a common front to challenge authority of the man (Olomola 2013) and is therefore not consistent with global targets of improving women's general well-being.…”

Social and cultural barriers to husbands� involvement in maternal health in rural, Gambia

“…Male involvement in maternal health is also complicated by the rivalry between co-wives [ 20 ], which is one reason why household duties for pregnant women were not alleviated by either their husbands or the other members of polygamous households [ 11 ]. Polygamous women in this regard are also less likely to obtain money from their husbands for treatments requiring monetary fee [ 21 ]. This may mean that women need to work daily in order to save money for their medical and other related expenses, with occasions of pregnancy and birth-related complications [ 11 ].…”

Social and Cultural Factors Affecting Maternal Health in Rural Gambia: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

“…Women’s workloads became more complicated in polygamous households, where there is often rivalry among co-wives. Polygamy, a common marital structure in many African societies including The Gambia, mediates important intra-household relationships by requiring both competition and pragmatic cooperation among co-wives [ 55 , 56 ]. For this reason, women could not release themselves from farm work even as pregnancy complications arose.…”

“…For this reason, women could not release themselves from farm work even as pregnancy complications arose. Polygamous women are also less likely to obtain treatment for which a monetary fee is required [ 55 ]. This confirms our findings that women need to work exceedingly hard to save money for their medical and other related expenses like transport fares, which are unlikely to be provided by polygamous husbands.…”