Payment Of Bride Price Research Articles

Violence against women in Papua New Guinea

The spread of HIV in Papua New Guinea is influenced by the social and cultural context. This study has aimed to develop knowledge about the different forms of domestic violence experienced by PNG women and their HIV status, and to give women a voice by asking them about their experiences of violence and their recommendations for services and community responses for women experiencing violence. The study has used a mixed method approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data through structured interviews with a sample of 415 women who accessed antenatal and Voluntary Counselling and Testing services across four provinces of Papua New Guinea. Participants were asked about violence they had experienced in their relationships, and the impact of the violence on their lives. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, and the qualitative data were coded and themes identified using a grounded theory approach. Physical and emotional abuse in relationships were reported by 58% of women, financial abuse was reported by 47%, sexual abuse was reported by 44%, and social isolation by 38%. Women who reported violence in their relationships were, on average, 2 years older than women who said they had not been abused and were more likely to be HIV positive. Sexual abuse in relationships was strongly associated with HIV positive status. Level of school education, post-school education and paid employment were not found to influence the rates at which women reported domestic violence. Women spoke about the negative impact of violence on their lives. Women’s attitudes towards the violence included acceptance because of financial dependence on husbands and partners and cultural customs, such as payment of bride price and polygamy. Seventy-five percent of the sample had never accessed support services. Participants in the study called for changes to legislation to protect women’s rights, more informed responses to violence against women by police, strengthening of court responses to offenders, empowerment of women, employment opportunities to reduce financial dependence on men, and education of men in the need to care for women. There was also a strong recommendation for making community and counselling services available and accessible for women who are victims of violence. The study concludes that programs which are concerned with the prevention of HIV in PNG must include interventions to counter domestic violence and increasing the social status of women through greater access to education and employment.

Far Above Rubies: The Association between Bride Price and Extramarital Sexual Relations in Uganda

The custom of bride price involves the payment of goods or cash from the groom’s family to the bride’s family at the time of marriage. We present a theory that views bride price as a payment in hedonic markets for marital fidelity. Data from a household survey in Uganda are used to test the theoretical prediction that payment of bride price will be associated with fewer non-marital sexual relationships for women. The data show a robust association between bride price payment and lower rates of non-marital sexual relationships for women but not for men.

Implications of bride price on domestic violence and reproductive health in Wakiso District, Uganda.

Bride price payment is a gender issue with implications on gender relations in different socio-cultural contexts. It also impacts Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. In a qualitative study on the perceptions of domestic violence in Wakiso district, payment of bride price emerged as one of the key factors associated with domestic violence. The study explored experiences, motivations, meanings, consequences and reproductive health implications of bride price payment in Wakiso district Uganda. 10 single-sex focus group discussions and 14 in-depth interviews were conducted in Wakiso and Nangabo sub-counties, Wakiso district from July 2003 through March 2004. Data was analyzed by thematic content analysis, assisted by Easy Text software for data retrieval. Participants perceived bride price as indicating that a woman was 'bought' into the man's household, which reduced her household decision-making roles. It limited women's independence and perpetuated unequal gender power relations, especially regarding health-seeking behaviour. Bride price payment is a contextual factor that the community in Wakiso District, Uganda, perceived as associated with domestic violence, with serious sexual and reproductive health implications.

An exploratory survey of small-scale off-farm economic activities and sustainable household livelihoods in the Bongo District of Ghana

Small scale off-farm economic activities are believed to be a potential frontier for generating additional livelihoods support to sustain the farm household in rural Ghana. Despite this general belief, very little has been done to provide adequate information that might be utilized by policy makers and practitioners for possible intervention. The purpose of this exploratory survey is to examine the potential of small scale off-farm economic activities in sustaining household livelihoods, using three communities in Bongo District in the Upper East Region of Ghana as a case study. The data for this study is derived from a larger survey, covering a wide range of issues including small scale off- farm economic activities, conducted in the eastern portion of the district – Bongo–Soe, Adaboya and Apatanga communities. The key findings are that, although their operations remain at a low level, small-scale off-farm economic activities contribute between 3.2 and 14.6 per cent to household incomes. The incomes from these operations serve strategic livelihood purposes, especially in sustaining the household during the excruciating lean season, when households habitually run out of all food stock. The incomes earned also serve other useful social and economic functions, such as the payment of bride price, funeral performance, the purchase of agricultural inputs and investment in livestock and human capital. It is therefore recommended that, development agencies like the Non Governmental Organizations, the District Assemblies and financial institutions consider supporting households to improve their skills, expand operations, and improve the product quality since this will enhance the livelihood chances of poor households in a derelict environment. Ghana Journal of Development Studies Vol.1(2) 2004: 27-49

The Domestic Relations Bill in Uganda: Potentially Addressing Polygamy, Bride Price, Cohabitation, Marital Rape, Widow Inheritance and Female Genital Mutilation

The Domestic Relations Bill is a crucial piece of legislation for Ugandan women. It addresses women's property rights in marriage and women's right to negotiate sex on the grounds of health, sets the minimum age of marriage at eighteen, prohibits FGM and criminalizes widow inheritance. As a compromise measure, bride price will not be prohibited, but the payment of bride price will no longer be essential for the formalization of customary marriages, and any demands for the return of marriage gifts will be an offence. The bill criminalizes marital rape and provides for civil remedies, such as compensation and restricting orders. The grounds for divorce are equally applicable to both spouses and alimony is provided for. The Domestic Relations Bill continues to exclude cohabitation from the presumption of marriage, but provides parties to such relationships with certain rights, including the right to register the fact of cohabitation and particulars of any monetary or non-monetary contributions made. A competent court may then distribute the property equitably in accordance with those contributions, and may do so even when registration has not taken place. Polygamy is also strictly regulated by guidelines that provide for the economic support of all wives. The bill also provides for equal sexual rights and establishes more equitable grounds for divorce. The paper discusses domestic and international law and Islamic Family Law in arguing that the reforms, while a step forward, do not go enough, offers arguments and alternatives and examines the particular situation of Muslim women. It questions the wisdom of promoting Khadi Sharia courts and discusses the Indian Shah Bano case as germane to Uganda's dilemma on issues of religious rights conflicting with issues of gender equality in contexts of Sharia personal law.

THE FREQUENCY AND EFFECTING FACTORS OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGE IN A GROUP OF SOLDIERS IN ANKARA

This cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the frequency of consanguineous marriage in a group of army conscripts in Ankara and the factors affecting this. Of 4153 soldiers, 387 were married. The rate of marriage between first cousins was found to be 19.1%, and the overall rate of consanguineous marriage was 24.1%. Consanguineous marriage was found to be significantly prevalent among soldiers who were born in and still living in the Eastern region; among those who lived in villages; among those whose parents as well as themselves had low educational levels; and among those whose marriages were arranged by their families. Neither the payment of bride-price nor the presence of consanguinity between parents was a significant factor for consanguineous marriage. In addition, the age of the soldier and the age at marriage were significantly lower among soldiers married to first cousins than among soldiers whose marriages were not consanguineous.

Addressing the Phenomenon of Child Marriage in Nigeria

Child marriage is a class phenomenon which is rooted in culture and religion. This phenomenon is classified among features of developing countries which has been highlighted in anthropological literature as well as old and current demographical data. It is often based on the belief that virginity can only be guaranteed between the ages of 8-10 years. It also serves as a means of forestalling promiscuity in young girls, prevent any mischief and to protect family honour by preventing prostitution. Furthermore, it is practised for economic reasons, for the payment of dowry and bride price. Nevertheless, the practice has a lot of negative effects on the health, psychological, physical and social well-being of the young female child in particular. In spite of the problems associating with the practice of child marriage and teenage pregnancy, several factors have been attributed to this problem, this include the collapse of educational system, ignorance, cost of education, unseriousness of girls as well as household poverty which are reversing the achievements of the past even in areas which hitherto had high rates of female literacy and enrolment statistical data. Basically, the consensual union between a man and woman is one common factor of every marriage, though it may possess diverse features according to the law to which such is subject. IFE PsychologIA Vol 9, No 2 September 2001, pp. 159-169

Creating Difference: A Contemporary Affiliation Drama in the Highlands of New Guinea

Issues of affiliation to groups, important in Papua New Guinea Highlands ethnography during the 1960s and 1970s, have since been overshadowed by other analytical concerns. But the issues have never gone away and they resound clearly in the life of people there, who are dealing with situations of rapid change that make the crafting of affiliations problematic and strategically important. We examine a case in which an affiliation event was staged in order to mediate between inter‐ethnic claims on a child and to refurbish practices of securing these claims in the absence of brideprice payments or virilocal residence. The analysis points out how transactions that the actors engaged in fell ambiguously between the categories of gift and commodity, and how ties of nurturance and food‐giving continue to play a crucial part in representations and negotiations. At the core of the event was the extent to which the parties involved shared in the understandings of the event at hand. This underlines the fact that transactions and meanings are always inextricably liinked together. Strategies ar made meaningfully and meanings are made strategically.

Exploring the Normative Basis for Age at Marriage in Thailand: An Example from Focus Group Research

The normative basis of marriage timing in Thailand was explored using focus group sessions as a way of obtaining qualitative information about attitudes and beliefs concerning the appropriate age at 1st marriage for men and women. A focus group session consists of a group discussion in which a small number of participants (usually 6-9) under the guidance of a moderator talk about topics of importance to the particular research study. The informal group situation is intended to encourage participants to elaborate on behavior and opinions to a greater extent than might be forthcoming from more formalized individual interview situations. Given the main objective of exploring the recent transformation of reproductive behavior in Thailand the project was designed to facilitate a comparison between the pre and post fertility decline generations. The pretransition generation was defined as married persons who had experienced most or all of their childbearing prior to the rapid changes in reproductive behavior that took place over the last decade and who had at least 5 living children. The post transition generation was defined as young married persons in their 20s for women and in their 20s or early 30s for men who wanted to have 2 or 3 children. Separate sessions were held for older men older women younger men and younger women. Complete sets of 4 sessions were held in 1 village each in the Central North and Northeastern Regions and in both a Buddhist and a Moslem village in the South. All but an older generation mens session have been held among construction workers in Bangkok all of whom migrated from rural areas. The findings draw on material from all 23 sessions. The discussions indicated that there was a reasonably clear consensus that a woman should marry in his mid 20s with 25 being most commonly mentioned. in general the recommended ages at marriage resemble the distribution of acutal ages at which men and women marry in Thailand and the mean of the recommended ages is fairly close to the actual average age at 1st marriage. During all the focus group sessions only once was the issue of brideprice payments raised and there seemed to be no acknowledged relationship between brideprice payments and appropriate age at marriage for men or women. There also was no link made between the onset of menarche and age at marriage for women and no concern expressed about a delay of marriage increasing the danger of a woman having her virginity compromised. There likewise was no advocacy that a woman should marry early in order to maximize her reproductive potential. The findings suggest that the link between age at marriage and family size is largely unintentional and that decisions as to when to marry are not viewed as a way to deliberately control family size.