New York: Polygyny - where one husband has more wives than one - may not be as bad as it is often made out to be. New research has found that the practice of sharing a husband may, in some circumstances, lead to greater health and wealth for women and their children.

Most countries around the globe ban or restrict marriages to more than one spouse at a time. And polygyny is decried by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and women's rights organisations as discriminatory to women.