- [b] [Polyandry](https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/marriage/polyandry.html) via Brian Schwimmer, Dept of Anthropology University of Manitoba, October 2003 - ["] Polyandry is a form of polygamy in which one woman is married to several men. - ["] Polyandry is generally found in areas where difficult physical environments or high populations impose extreme pressures on agricultural systems. It works to limit population growth and to ensure the coherence of agricultural estates. - [I] Polyandry is rare, although of anywhere you're most likely to see it in the Himalayans. It appears sporadically in Africa, Oceania, and Native America. - ["] Two forms have been recorded: - fraternal polyandry in which a group of brothers share a wife. - Fraternal forms are common in the mountainous areas of Nepal and Tibet. Among the Tibetian Nyinba, brothers live together throughout their life times in large patrilineally constructed households. They share a common estate and domestic responsibilities. They also share a common wife with whom each maintains a sexual relationship. Generally, each child of the marriage is acknowledged by and develops a special relationship with one of the possible fathers, even where biological paternity cannot be determined. This arrangement can partially be understood as a response to a shortage of women due to a lower survival rate in comparison to men. It also has important economic implications. Since brothers share a wife, their joint estate remains intact from generation to generations and is not subject to the fragmentary and inefficient divisions that might occur if each belonged to a separate conjugal unit. * non-fraternal polyandry in which a woman’s husbands are not related.