Multiple wives => redundant wives. Solves the issue of mothers dying in pregnancy. The more wives you have, the more you expect to survive to be able to care for the children. Having only one wife, on the other hand, means all your eggs are in one basket (apologies)!
There is no such thing as redundant wives in a total sense.
There’s only kidnapped wives, or dead or single men. That’s the only way you get a relative surplus. The amount of women remains the same whether you do polygyny or not.
Multiple wives => redundant wives. Solves the issue of mothers dying in pregnancy. The more wives you have, the more you expect to survive to be able to care for the children. Having only one wife, on the other hand, means all your eggs are in one basket (apologies)!
There is no such thing as redundant wives in a total sense.
There’s only kidnapped wives, or dead or single men. That’s the only way you get a relative surplus. The amount of women remains the same whether you do polygyny or not.