In older times, bride price was a highly important culture in many countries of the world. The Bible even recorded that the Jews practiced the bride price culture.
We are in modern times, civilisation if you may call it and in many climes, bride price is a thing of the past. However, so many countries in Africa still hold strongly on to this culture and some countries in Asia and the pacific island do too.
Do you think that the bride price culture is outdated and irrelevant in this modern time where women push for equal rights all over the globe?
Drama and Shawn would share their opinions on this matter of bride price.
Drama
The culture of bride price before marriage is an ancient and barbaric one, obviously started and upheld by improvised parents, who see (saw) their female children as an avenue to acquire wealth. Some of the parents who are proponents of this act are often quick to deny this fact, citing the need to make the bride as valuable as possible, so she can be appreciated and respected as their motivating factor— but the truth is, the people who attach monetary or material value to their children, especially when it comes to marriage do it for the obvious gains they stand to enjoy. This is why you find that in certain cultures and societies of the world, outrageous sums are slammed on the bride as soon as a suitor comes calling. I know of places in Nigeria for example, where the bride price is as high as 2million naira (that’s about $15,000)…isn’t that outrageous and wicked? How do you expect a man to cough up that amount on just the bride price, excluding the other wedding expenses? What this does is discourage a lot of men from going after women that they ordinarily would want to marry. And in situations where they agree to pay the huge bride price, they do it angrily, and end up hating the woman they married for putting them through such hassle (even when it’s not her doing).
So for me, it’s not ideal, and parents and societies that still keep the practice need to put an end to it. A popular saying goes, “love don’t cost a thing”. You cannot measure love or human feelings in terms of money. These are things that (should) happen naturally. If someone comes to ask your daughter’s hand in marriage, and they love themselves, give your blessings and let them wed as they choose.
Click below to read Shawn’s opinion