The issue of payment of bride price is fast emerging to be one of the most controversial in the context of Gender Based Violence. Participants at the National Policy Dialogue organized by Southern African HIV and AIDS Dissemination Services (SAfAIDS) in Harare titled “Harmonizing traditional laws and practices and general laws that address women issues, Gender Based Violence and HIV and AIDS” highlighted that bride price could be done away with as it discriminates against girls and women.
Women in particular raised concerns that the payment of bride price is becoming highly commercialized, with girls being viewed as assets that can be traded for economic gains. This scenario is inflamed in the Zimbabwean context where the hyperinflationary environment is rendering most forms of livelihood unviable, leaving the majority with very few to no options at all for sustenance. Parents were castigated for now looking forward to marrying off their children to ameliorate themselves from the scorches of the harsh economy.
With an estimated inflation rate of over 253 million percent in Zimbabwe, most families are charging bride price exorbitantly in foreign currency as the local currency is quickly eroded. Some are even charging in valuable assets like vehicles. A custom that once brought pride to the bride now leaves her feeling void and used a circumstance that has led to a number of premature break-ups of intended marriages.
“In the Ndebele culture, bride price was paid by the husband’s family to signal that the bride does not belong to the husband but to the family,” said Phathisa Nyathi, a renowned traditionalist and historian.
“As a result, if the husband started battering the wife, his own relatives had a basis for intervening. They would cite that they also had a stake in the paying of the bride price hence the husband had no right to batter their daughter in law”, he added.
As it is there are huge disparities between the tradition of bride price and the current scenario where women appear to be sold off into marriage.
Consequently, bride price is seen as fuelling discrimination and gender based violence as its allotment can somehow be viewed as inequitable and the custom may result in husbands claiming ownership over their wives’ bodies. Traditionally, the mother of the bride is allocated one beast from those that are charged, and some other items like clothes and groceries. The father, in addition to the clothing, normally gets up to eight cattle depending on how many the family would have charged. This was perceived as inequitable division of the bride price.
“These are some of the gaps that need to be addressed in drafting new policy documents. A scenario where the bride price is shared equally would be more equitable from a gender perspective,” said Emilia Muchawa, Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Women’s Lawyers Association (ZWLA).
This view is however controversial as some women still uphold this allotment and view it as equitable. The beast that is allocated to the mother is hers to keep. The other beasts allocated to the father can however be shared amongst the bride’s brothers and/or uncles or be slaughtered for meat altogether. In this light, some women feel that they are given their due respect through this customary allotment. Furthermore some families do not recognize payment of bride price unless the bride’s mother’s beast is paid.
Although some women’s activists call for the scrambling of bride price, many women would not want their daughters to be married off without the payment of bride price.
Evidently the custom of paying the bride price still holds great value in Zimbabwe and in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It is a symbol of cultural identity. It initiates family relations and formalizes the transition from courtship to marriage. In this way also, the bride’s family feels honored to see the commitment of the groom to marrying their daughter.
Overall, the issue of bride price payment remains inconclusive. Although it was highlighted at the National Policy Dialogue workshop that it may be necessary to make the payment of bride price optional, it is very unlikely that many people will accept such a transformation to the custom which lies as the epicenter of most African marriages.
An analysis of the purposes of these time-honored customs is necessary before any amendments are made to traditional laws. Likewise, the objectives of the payment of bride price need to be revisited in order to bridge the gaps that exist in liberating women from gender based discrimination.
mbonisi
