If there is divorce, the lineage will care for her and her children. She is not absorbed into her husband s lineage. In the Voltaic group of the Mossi, men who have migrated to neighboring Ghana may establish households with the Ashanti women but avoid marriage because the Ashanti matrilineal descent pattern would not let them take their own children back with them. In patrilineal or dual descent societies, by contrast, marriages are stable. Illegitimacy is also regarded differently since children belong to the mother s line anyway.
Early illegitimacy can even have a positive aspect, since it proves fertility.
Although antecedents to the occurrence and maintenance of polygyny vary from society to society, ideology and customs develop once polygyny is adopted that contribute to its perpetuation long after the original reason for the practice disappears. In traditional societies that have encouraged plural marriages in the past, however, the trend is moving toward monogamy. In some cases, this movement occurs in stages, and in other cases, polygyny is permitted but discouraged by recognizing the first marriage as legal and relegating additional wives to the status of concubines. Of course, the role of ideology and the banning of polygyny must also be considered as factors contributing to the decline of the practice. Some American men take the position that monogamy protects the rights of women.