Abstract
The study aims at ascertaining the actual implication of bride pricing system in traditional marriages in Igbo land. A total of fifty respondents (thirty women and twenty men) from the five states that make up the southeast zone in Nigeria were selected for the study. Being a qualitative research, the study adopted the ethnographic research design and employed a purposive non-probability sampling method in selecting the respondents. The study made use of focused group discussions, unstructured interview and participants’ observation method as instruments of data collection. The collection of data lasted for a period of six months from June 2020 to November 2020. The research is anchored on Radical and Snail sense Feminism theories and data for the study were analysed using descriptive thematic method. Findings from the study reveal that payment of bride price does not reduce women to mere commodities in Igbo land. It also reveals that it gives undue privileges to men in Igbo land among other findings. Finally, it was shown that Igbo men and women still regard bride price payment as an important aspect of their culture which should not be abolished.
Highlights
Over the years, the nature, advantage and disadvantages of bride price payment in marital culture of Africans has provoked series of scholarly debates and personal opinions
It was observed that women of younger generation in Igbo land view paying of bride price on a woman as reducing her to a mere commodity
The researchers further discovered that most female respondents that subscribed to the commodification notions are of the view that payment of bride price by a man places him in an undue advantaged position which is often exploited in moments of conflict
Summary
The nature, advantage and disadvantages of bride price payment in marital culture of Africans has provoked series of scholarly debates and personal opinions. While proponents of bride price payment (Bishai, Falb, Pariyo, & Hindin, 2009, Ego-Alowes, 2018) advocate for its sustenance as a unique mode of traditional marriage in African culture; the opponents of this system of marriage (Kaye, 2005, Ezeifeka, 2016, Lowes & Nunn 2017) are of the view that it leads to objectification and commodification of the woman, but constitute unnecessary economic burden on the man They contend that marriage should be contracted only the basis of love and agreement between the two individuals coming together supported by their families. According to Oguli (2004) a typical bride price consists of contract where material items often cattle, pigs, other animals or money are paid by the groom to the bride’s family in exchange for the bride for the labour and her capacity to produce children. Anderson (2007) traces the history of bride price to at least as far back as 3000 BCE, and was used by the Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Aztecs, and the Incas
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