Polygamous Relationship: Advantage or Disadvantage?

I learned 2 days ago that the intellectuals in Senegal typically have one wife because they understand the consequences of polygamy. From my observation, the ones who attend French schools usually have  one wife and the ones who attend Arabic schools are polygamous. Some of the common problems faced in polygamous relationships are that the women may not get along which creates further division amongst the children. Sometimes it may become a psychological issue where the women compete against each other to have the attention of the husband.

There was one incident during one visit at the health hut, a woman came with her husband because she felt that she was at risk for abortion. She was bleeding while she was pregnant. From the heated discussion ensued, the man kept saying she was lying and that she may be on her menstrual cycle. The man had 3 other wives and many other small children.

I explained to the husband some of the complications that may arise from bleeding during a pregnancy. Although he was still angry, he finally took the wife to the hospital for a medical exam.  Most of the men in polygamous relationships can have so many wives and children that they cannot take care of them financially. As a result, this creates disharmony in the family. There are too many mouths to feed and too many people to take care of.  I felt angry when it happened because women in villages are at the mercy of their husbands. They are treated as objects and they have no sense of how to take care of themselves. They are taught to only serve their husbands.   In these polygamous relationships, the men are usually not motivated to pay for the health visits of their wives and children. I am starting to feel that polygamous relationships have more disadvantages than advantages.