Following are the merits of polygyny:

1) Proper care of the children is possible due to the presence of number of wives.

2) Polygyny checks sexual immorality as the husband gets adequate sexual satisfied from his wives.

3) It encourages division of labour in the family because all the domestic work is pert equally by the wives.

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Demerits:

A demerit of polygyny is more than its merits. They are as follows:

1) In polygyny the status of women suffers a serious setback.

2) Lack of better understanding, fellow feeling sympathy, love and affection among wives creates the family atmosphere hot and leads family disorganisation.

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3) Polygyny brings much economic burden, because it is difficult for a man to main large family consisting of many wives and children.

4) It lends to adultery because one husband cannot able to give adequate s satisfaction to a number of wives.

Because of the harmful effects of polygyny most of the civilized societies have treated this type of marriage as illegal.