Bridewealth | African, Gender & Exchange (2024)

FAQs

Does the practice of bridewealth necessarily imply gender inequality? ›

Does the practice of bridewealth necessarily imply gender inequality? Yes. A dowry is a price the bride's family must pay in order for the daughter to be married off. This insinuates that the girl is only worth being married to if her family can provide enough gift's for the boy's family.

Bridewealth may consist of money or goods, and it may be paid in one sum or in installments over a period of time. The goods transferred may include a diverse array of items such as livestock, bolts of cloth, drink, food, traditional weapons (such as spears), and vehicles.

If the bride's family (usually father) is required to provide a gift to the couple (or often directly to the groom) the practice is called dowry. If the groom's family is required to provide a gift to the bride's family, the practice is called bridewealth or brideprice.

Provision of bridewealth – the transfer of cash and/or goods (typically livestock) from the husband's to the wife's family – is part of the traditional marriage process in most African societies, particularly in patrilineal ones (Goody, 1973; Murdock, 1967).

The tradition of giving bride dowry is practiced in many Asian countries, Eastern Europe the Middle East, parts of Africa and in some Pacific Island societies, notably those in Melanesia.

Bridewealth and dowry have certain obvious similarities in that they both involve the transmission of property at marriage, the usual interpretation suggesting that what distinguishes them is the direction in which the property travels - in the case of bridewealth, from the husband and his kin to the wife and her kin, ...

Explanation: The goal of bridewealth is to compensate the bride's family for the loss.

Often, as among some Australian Aborigines and American Subarctic peoples, a traditional ideal was for a brother and sister from one family to marry a sister and brother, respectively, from another. When these processes are repeated by subsequent generations, the practice is known as cross-cousin marriage.

Synonyms. bride gift, bride-gift, bridegift. bride token. bride wealth, bride-wealth, bridewealth.

Read the below verses. Exodus 22:16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.

Which social anthropologist gave the term bridewealth? ›

The wealth can act as a form of marriage payment (or bridewealth) for acquiring multiple wives [4]. According to anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard, bridewealth is not simply an economic transaction (even though it involves the transaction of material goods).

Easton's Bible Dictionary - Dowry

(mohar; i.e., price paid for a wife, Genesis 34:12 ; Exodus 22:17 ; 1 Samuel 18:25 ), a nuptial present; some gift, as a sum of money, which the bridegroom offers to the father of his bride as a satisfaction before he can receive her.

A dowry establishes a type of conjugal fund, the nature of which may vary widely. This fund may provide an element of financial security in widowhood or against a negligent husband, and may eventually go to provide for her children.

Typically, the bride price is suggested to be paid to the parents of the bride in exchange for the future labour inputs of their daughter and her unborn children, as the bride moves away from her parents to cohabit and work on the husband's estate and not the other way around.

In Islam, a mahr (in Arabic: مهر; Persian: مهريه; Turkish: mehir; Swahili: mahari; Indonesian: mahar; also transliterated mehr, meher, mehrieh, or mahriyeh) is the bride wealth obligation, in the form of money, possessions or teaching of verses from the Quran by the groom, to the bride at the time of the Islamic ...

Gender inequality

This can mean controlling how a girl behaves and dresses, where she goes, who she sees, and if, who and when she marries. It can also criminalise her sexuality and block her access to care and information.

When a man's daughter leaves to join another family in a patrilineal society, the father would then be entitled to compensation for his loss. The father-in-law and/or groom would be expected to pay this as they would be gaining a daughter/wife and future grandchildren.

It stabilizes the marriage through establishment of mutual, vested interest. Bridewealth is prevalent in many African societies and parts of the Middle East and frequently means that the groom's family gives cattle, cash, or other goods to the family of the bride-to-be.

These differences led sociologist Jesse Bernard (1972) to coin the phrase ”his and her marriages.” Gender-based patterns of inequalities in marriage have existed historically in the US and other western nations, though they have declined somewhat in recent decades, and they persist in other parts of the globe, as well.