Polygamy as a social reform

I recommend this article as a view into how another culture proposed working out problems.

"Caroline Humphrey, Sigrid Rausing professor of collaborative anthropology at Cambridge University, says central Asia and Russia have much to teach us."In the 1990s, Russia and central Asia experienced huge economic change: what a bank was, how your career was going, what you could expect from life, everything changed overnight..."

Improbably, for both groups [Islamic men and rural women], this is polygamy as a solution to contemporary social ills – and, according to Humphrey, is appearing outside Islamic regions. In rural areas the "man shortage", exacerbated by war, alcoholism and mass economic migration, is even more serious."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/27/polygamy-study-russia-central-asia