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Biographical data were collected on members of the U.S. executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in George Washington's first through Ronald Reagan's last administration, fromWho Was Who in America,theBiographical Dictionary of the United States Congress, Vice Presidents and Cabinet Members,andBurke's Presidential Families of the United States of America.They suggest that serial polygyny in this sample has declined over the last two hundred years. Census data on average American men suggest that the number of wives per man has stayed the same or increased at the same time. These trends imply that mating equality may have increased over the last two centuries of American history. What sketchy evidence exists on extramarital opportunities tentatively suggests a similar trend.

This study of the Kikuyu today looked at bridewealth and polygyny. The sample was about 300 30-40 year-olds, divided between residents of Nairobi and rural Kiambu. The families of almost all the male respondents had paid bridewealth at their marriages - ordinarily a combination of cash and livestock, and there was considerable complaint about cost. About one in six of the male respondents either were currently in polygynous relationships, or planned to be. This was lower than the 28% of their fathers who were polygynous. The explanation for the reduction included opportunity, attitude change, expense, and the availability of extramarital relationships.

For decades, scholars have puzzled over why polygyny in Africa is concentrated in the continents western countries -- Guinea, Togo, and Mali, among others. There are competing theories, rooted in variables such as relative infant mortality rates and the agricultural roles women play in different parts of Africa. A new study, however, argues that the answer may be found somewhere else, darker and uglier: the slave trade. Certainly, polygyny may have existed before the slave trade began. But this study suggests that slavery encouraged the practice by ensuring that there were fewer men available to be husbands to West African women. Adapted from the source document.

Polygynous families had been living legally in Russia in the areas inhabited by Muslims from the October Revolution to the mid-twentieth century. However, such a family model was not common among the followers of Islam. An act penalizing bigamy or polygamy was introduced into the Penal Code in 1960. During perestroika, and later changes in the political system, imams who came from abroad began to visit areas inhabited by Muslims. They contributed to the rebirth of religion and promoted the idea of po­lygamy. Polygyny is the visible sign of dissimilarity and Muslim identity and was an important point in their teaching. In this context the number of polygynous relationships in Russia has increased significantly. The article is dedicated to the analysis of social and political discourse in Russia that has been taking place for several years.