Sold Into Love: African Dowry System

Dowry

Reasons

Form of Marriage Transaction:

Bride Price

Rural Locations

• Agrarian Economy

Urban Locations

• Commercial Economy

• Handled in the form of traditional currency
• Calculated from income and characteristics of the bride

Introduction

Societal Characteristics

Social Characteristics

What is the Dowry System?

Dowry

Bride Price

Qualifications

Dowry v. Bride Price

• Personal Involvement
• Grandfather had an arranged marriage
• Traveling and culture interest

• Knowledge Issue
• How can reason justify cultural practices?

• Patrilineal
• Patrilocal

Bride Price

• Primitive, tribal,

nomadic societies

• Strong female role in

agriculture

• Polygyny
• Divorces possible

• Socioeconomic differentiation
• income & education

level

• Class stratification
• social status
• Monogamy
• No divorces

Dowry: transfers from the family of the bride to the family of the groom

Bride Price: transfers from the groom's family to the bride

• Larger lineage groups
• Negotiated between extended family

of groom and bride

• Based upon labor rights & reproductive capabilities

Reasons

Economic Conditions

Series of developments

Dowry

• Use livestock, labor, and/or land in substitution for currency

Real Life Situation

• Economic Conditions
• Societal Characteristics
• Qualifications

In the Market for a Wife: Paying Dowries in Rwanda

• Individual negotiations
• Based upon wealth, power, and superior hereditary status

A Rwandan man was interviewed about his experiences with the dowry system. He described the benefits as well as the disadvantadges to all parties involved.

Form of Marriage Transaction:

Dowry

Pros v. Cons

Emotion

Protection

• Builds stronger bonds between spouses
• Adds to self-confidence of the wife

• From sexual harassment

Distorted Values

• Places a value on a human life

Wealth

Strengthens marriages

• Personal welfare
• Competition in marriage process

Control

• Decreases female extramarital affairs

• Limits women's freedom over their bodies

Capabilities

• Payment of dowry shows that the husband is able to support his wife

Diseases

• Spread of AIDS

Domestic Violence

Collapsed marriages

• Indebted to groom and family

Changing the Dowry System - Bawku, Upper East Region Ghana

Conclusion

• Justified by values, traditions, and needs of the society in the specific region of the world.
• However to other regions of the world with different cultural practices and economic status reasons for this specific practice are often looked down upon.

Other Real Life Situations

• American Gypsies
• Faith-based teachings

• Anderson, Siwan. "The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice." Journal of Economic Perspectives 21.4 (2007): 151-74. Aeaweb . 2007. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. <http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.21.4.151>.
• Makama, Funom Theophilus. "The Major Problems and Also Advantages of the Dowry System-especially in Africa." Articlesbase.com. Articlesbase.com, 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 May 2013.
• Wellars, Bakina. "In the Market for a Wife: Paying Dowries in Rwanda." Think Africa Press. N.p., 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 23 May 2013. <http://thinkafricapress.com/rwanda/marriage-dowry>.

Works Cited

Sold Into Love: African Dowry System

Oludare Olugbemi & Kayla Vincent

Theory of Knowledge

IB Diploma Candidates 2014