NJIKO: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Humanities, Law, Education and Social Sciences

Gender inequality is the unequal treatment of the sexes with respect to recognition, allocation of rights and opportunities. To reverse issues of gender inequality, the feminist struggle has canvassed for gender equality through gender mainstreaming. Whereas the feminist struggle refers to the efforts to combat all manners of misrepresentation, subjugation and marginalization of the female sex; gender mainstreaming simply means giving equal opportunities to both sexes as a way of forestalling the imbalance of the marginalization of one sex especially with respect to, recognition, work, education, ownership of property and other civil/legal rights. In this context, the impact of bride wealth on gender relations in Africa has divided scholars in recent years. On the one hand, are feminists who claim that bride wealth is a predominant cultural practice that contributes to the marginalization of women in Africa. Their claim is that the predominantly patrilineal nature of African society means that in most cases, men pay the bride wealth of their wives. Consequentially, these men see their wives as articles bought with their monies that they can treat anyhow and even dispose at will. There is therefore a call for the abolition of bride wealth as an important step in the quest to emancipate African women. On the other hand, are anti-bride wealth abolitionists who argue that abolition is not the way to go because bride wealth is the single most important element that legitimizes marriage and enhances the status of women in Africa. Using the documentary method and concept analysis for data collection and interpretation respectively, this study investigates the impact of bride wealth on the status of married women in Africa. On the one hand, the study discovered that there is a link between bride wealth and women subjugation in Africa. On the other hand, it found that bride wealth contributes immensely to the recognition and protection of the rights of married women in Africa. Amidst this apparent tension between the negative and positive contributions of bride wealth to gender relationship in Africa, this study argues that in spite of the importance of bride wealth in legitimizing marriage in Africa, the current practice that encourages the abuse of the fundamental human rights of African women is not desirable. Thus, while not calling for a blanket rejection of bride wealth as that would be harmful to the cause of women, the study recommended the deconstruction of African ontology of women as the pathway to reform subjugation of women in Africa.

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