Serious Citizens: Gender-Based Violence Poll 1
In your family, why do husbands hit their wives?
34% - To make the wife respect her husband.
28% - In my family, husbands never hit their wives.
22% - After paying a bride price, they have the right to discipline the wife.
16% - To show he loves and cares for his wife.
Results from the above poll question also showed that 30% of the female respondents believed that 'After paying a bride price, husbands have the right to discipline the wives.' compared to 19% of the male respondents.
Contrary to some expectations that especially men see their payment of ‘bride price’ as a legitimation of violence, data shows that it is especially women who feel that the payment of bride price transfers the ‘right’ to commit violence against them to the husband. For many women, bride price seems to come with disempowerment and impunity for the husband’s physical abuse.
Bride price payment reinforces the unequal position of men and women in society, keeping a woman in a subordinate position while the husband is seen as superior with more authority and rights. Marriage, when viewed as a form of social control and organization, contributes to upholding the inferior social and moral status of women. Regardless of these negative effects, bride price is still regarded as a highly valued and essential tradition by both men and women and their extended families.
