Polygamy and Australian Society Essay Example

If this is compared to Australian society today, then yes the male has the advantage of more than one sexual partner but as with the ! Kung it becomes a difficult marriage to manage. ‘The! Kung society is one based on equality between the sexes. ’ (Shostak 1981 p. 237) Australians could learn a great deal from the! Kung when it comes to equality between the sexes, but even so if they have difficulty managing a polygamous marriage what hope do Australian’s have.

The second benefit is more children. In the ! Kung society this seems to be a good option, more children results in greater status within the community and adds to family wealth. For the vast majority f Australians the more children you have the greater the economic burden, as they do not usually contribute to the household income until their late teens. There is no need for a man to have multiple wives to increase his wealth through the family’s ability to hunt or cultivate more effectively.

In Australia today most agricultural work is done by a machine thus replacing the need for many wives to help on the land. As for hunting well, it only takes one person to shop at the local Woolworths. Another culture to look at is the Muslim society in Pakistan, unlike Australian culture or the ! Kung, women in this Muslim society assume a subservient role. It is seen as strictly domestic. (Malik 2006) According to the Koran Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four women but must treat each one equally or else they will be judged harshly in the afterlife. Usually in this society

only the wealthy have polygamous marriages since the woman do not work and therefore do not contribute to the family income.

The advantages to the men are both sexual and status-driven. For the woman they gain a provider and have co-wives as companions. There is little to compare with Pakistan and Australia.The two cultures are so far apart from one another on this subject.

This type of polygamous marriage could never work in Australia since Australian society promotes female independence and choice. A final comparison can be made with the Mormon religion based in the United States of America. ‘Even though the practice of polygamy was outlawed in Utah in 1896 it has grown so that anywhere from 20,000-60,000 people living in families where one man is married to 2, 3, 5 and as many as 30 women. ’

No one has been prosecuted for polygamy in Utah for over 50 years.Yet the Mormon Church condemns polygamy among the fundamentalist fractions excommunicated for their practice. (Kilbride 1994) The Mormon's religious belief of polygamy is based on the Book of Mormon Section 132, where God tells the prophet, Joseph Smith, that he can marry as many women as he wants. And thereby ensure a marriage that would last throughout eternity.

Mary Potter who was once one of three wives and formed a group in support of plural marriages stated, “In polygamy men are properly channeled. ” (Haviland et al. p. 164) Emilie Allen n Ethnographer from the University of Nevada pointed out that Mormon women are not permitted to be priests, the only way they may achieve membership with God in the next life is through marriage that links them

together with a man.

She also noted that in the Mormon household income is pooled together from all able to contribute and childcare and household duties are shared by all of the co-wives. (Kilbride 1994) Polygamy for religious reasons would not be tolerated in Australia, firstly as it is illegal and secondly it is not an accepted part of the Australian way of life and would be viewed as immoral.I found it rather interesting that as this essay was being researched, over 400 children were removed from a polygamist compound in West Texas to determine if some were born to underage mothers. The Sunday times headline read as follows ‘DNA check on 400, Custody order on kids in cult’.

Another news headline on the Internet read ‘over 400 children taken from Texas polygamist ranch. ’ (Stoddard et al, 2008) These headlines neglect to mention that the group referred to are Mormons.This acts to reinforce the information set or traditional values at the present time in Australia that look at polygamy as abnormal, sinful, and even criminal The many advocates of “family values” find the idea that love respect and caring must be acted out only or primarily in a nuclear family (Kilbride 1994). Yet things that were once deviant can become moral.

For example same sex marriages are presently viewed as socially deviant whereas single-parent families are moving towards a moral or proper status. Kilbride 1994) The growing multi-culturalism in Australia will bring with it cultures who value and practice polygamy. As stated earlier in this essay, at the present time there is no need for polygamous marriages. In conclusion the hypotheses put forward in Bretschneider’s book do

not apply to modern Australian society. Polygamy is a multidimensional phenomenon; it was found that bridal wealth payments, high dependencies on fishing or plough agricultures and war for plunder to be strongly related to polygamy.

If we take these factors into account and compare them with Australian society then it is quite clear to see that polygamy would not work in Australia. In Australia, marriage payments are becoming a joint venture paid by both families. Australians are not hunter-gatherers and with the advent of modern farming one machine can do he work of 20 or more people. Also there is no ongoing warfare or a need to take women as captives. This essay looked at some of the reasons other cultures practice polygamy and gave reasons why Australia has no need to practice polygamy.

The question is not about “would polygamy work in Australia today. ” The question should be is there a need for polygamy in Australia today. If there were a need like in the other cultures I have described then the answer would be yes. The Australia of today is not a society of Hunter-Gatherers or Horticulturalists. Australia is a country that has many diverse religious groups, but those involving polygamy are illegal.

The Australian notion of the traditional family with a dad who works, a mum who stays at home with the children has changed dramatically in the last 60 years. Australia now has a large number of single-parent families, couples living together in de facto relationships, and same-sex relationships. With the growing economic pressure on families, there may be a need in the future for the one family living under one roof to

change, but I do not see it becoming a polygamous marriage arrangement since in the present society a man having more than one wife would be unacceptable by the vast majority of Australians.