The Economics of Polygamy

The average household income in Dakar, Senegal is 1,940,286 cfa (the equivalent of about $4,000 US) compared to the average $52,000 per household in the US. In the US, it is more common than not that both man and woman of the house contribute to the family income. In Dakar and the rest of Senegal, the man works and the woman stays home to do the cooking, cleaning, and looking after of children- a woman might work from time to time but it is a bit of a rarity and often means that she does not yet have a husband. In the US, it is illegal and considered a felony to be married to more than one person (husband or wife).  However, in cities like Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah and many other cities in Utah, polygamy is still practiced as part of the Mormon Church religion.  The reason why these polygamist marriages are able to continue, even though punishable by law, is that they only register for a marriage license for their first marriage.  Being a Muslim man in Senegal, you can have a maximum of four wives, legally. This means that among your wives and the children you have with each (usually 1-3 children per wife has been what I've seen), you must share your income, in comparison to the US where you have family of 3-6 . I was talking with Abda about polygamy and I asked him if he would take more than one wife. His response was purely economical "I'll just take one wife so that my children can have more inheritance when I die". Nice. Not out of respect for a woman or breaking tradition to be a little more westernized, just thinking about the finances of it all... and I don't half blame him. When you have to share an already small income among more than one family, it means that each family gets less than maybe they deserve. With one wife, one family, there is more to go around, leading to better opportunities for the children. One of the reasons why education levels are so low here in Senegal and most other third world countries is that the children have to start working at younger ages to contribute to the family income.  This prevents them from finishing their education and possibly being able to then go on to make more money than their father and so on.   I can't help but think that if each man were limited to one wife, the education levels might be higher and advancement in society as a whole might be easier.