"… he has suffered a lot to pay my bride price so he can do whatever he wants with me…": bride price and Intimate Partner Violence among women across kin groups in Ghana.


Victor Agyei-Yeboah, Memorial University

In Ghana, as in much of the rest of Africa, the payment of the bride price is central to the marriage process. The bride price is the transfer of items and in some cases, money, from the groom’s family to the bride’s family to consolidate the conjugal union. In recent years, however, some scholars have argued that the institution of bride price has lost its cultural relevance, suggesting that the practice is contributing to women’s experiences of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Ghana. While these studies offer some insights on bride price payment and IPV, none have examined how lineage influences such marriage payment arrangements across kin groups, and its implication on women’s experiences of IPV. The studies thus far, provide a generic understanding of bride price and IPV and have failed to discuss how, and in what ways lineage is likely to influence or interact with other existing social conditions to exacerbate IPV. This study fills this gap. This is particularly important given that lineage is the foundation upon which social relationships are organized, such as the payment of bride price and the performance of marital unions. Bride price payment culturally shapes women’s rights and responsibilities in marital unions which has implications for their experiences of IPV. Moreover, even though the payment of bride price is a common cultural practice across kin groups, its performance, meanings, and interpretations may differ across these groups owing to varied socio-cultural contexts. It is thus reasonable to surmise that the variations in the practice of bride price payment across kin groups could influence womens varying experiences of IPV in these groups. This study draws attention to the linkages between bride price and IPV, particularly how the different meanings and payments of bride price across kin groups might influence women’s experiences of IPV. Drawing on the cultural , feminist , and power theories, and based on in-depth interviews with twenty (22) ever-married women from matrilineal, patrilineal, and bilateral kin groups in Ghana, this study explored the influence of bride price payment on IPV. Data was analyzed thematically. The findings show that IPV occurred across all kin groups. Women in patrilineal societies narrated frequent incidents of emotional IPV which occurred as a result of verbal abuse from their partners; economic IPV as most of them reported being denied resources from their partners, and physical IPV. Women in matrilineal societies, on the other hand, recounted frequent forms of emotional IPV which were linked to non-consensual sex with their partners, which also resulted in economic IPV. In bilateral societies, women reported repeated patterns of emotional IPV, which was triggered by physical IPV, and accompanied by economic IPV. The expensive nature of the bride price particularly in patrilineal and bilateral societies was constructed as “wife ownership”, creating unequal gender power relations with implications for women’s IPV experience. Unpaid bride prices, according to some women in matrilineal societies, contributed to their experiences of IPV as this meant their partners had no direct responsibility for their wellbeing, hence the abuse. Thus, the payment of the bride price coupled with strong gendered norms in patrilineal groups served as a conduit for male authority, power and female subordination and subservience. Bride price is thus a powerful site for the (re) construction of male control and dominance to keep women subservient and to guarantee they adhere to patriarchal standards of male supremacy in patrilineal societies. The findings suggest that policymakers must pay critical attention to the nuanced meanings of bride price across kin groups and intensify public education on its cultural relevance to mitigate its negative consequences for women in intimate relationships. Consistent with the theme of this session, this paper explores how lineage norms, specifically bride price payment contribute to IPV or Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Global South (Ghana). By exploring how bride price influences IPV across kin groups, this paper brings a new and different dimension to the discourse on gendered norms, lineage identities, and IPV in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Non-presenting author: Eric Tenkorang, Memorial University

This paper will be presented at the following session: