Bride price payment and marriage Stability: An ethnographic study of the Brifors of the Upper West Region, Ghana

Abstract

A bride price creates an unending bond for married couples in sub-Sahara Africa. This gesture is key within the Brifor cultural milieu in Ghana. This paper investigates the impact of bride price on marriage stability among the Brifor ethnic group. In-depth interviews were conducted with 45 Key Informants and seven defined groups. The results show that the cultural demands of high bride price payment among the Brifors stabilizes marriages, secures the entitlement right of the husband to the woman and children, but increases incidences of violence against women. From the results it is evident that apart from the high bride price payment contributing to marriage instability, there is also the indication that the abuse of the rights of wives depends largely on the character of the husbands, including the cultural mindset instilled in them through biological traits and/or family socialization in relation to their culture. The study concludes that although most participants felt that the practice of paying bride price should be reviewed, it was evident that the payment has become a double-edge sword confronting women in particular, relative to the stability or instability of marriages among the Brifors. Therefore, there is the need for traditional authority to reform the practice by reducing the bride price items and spacing out the payment period as a respite for husbands-to-be.