Stop Bride Price, Women Demand

By Anne Mugisa and John EremuDelegates at the International Women’s Congress yesterday called for abolition of bride price, saying it perpetuated domestic violence and poverty, especially in rural areas.“The family today is turning out to be the most brutal unit and the most dangerous institution the world over, where women face violence...The issue of dowry continues to be the basis of violence in families. Women are beaten like cows since men buy them,” a Makerere University lecturer, Peace Tuyizere said.Tuyizere said the cost of domestic violence in terms of development was high. She said in Uganda where women constitute 70-80 percent of agricultural labour, the country loses a lot when she is unable to work after a battering. She said the victims were dogged by poor health which hampered their work.She said the draft law to govern family relations was meeting a lot of resistance from men.“When women are abused, most people still prefer to have their problems solved in a cultural manner, rather than courts of law,” Tuyizere said.The participants said in some societies, women were regarded as purchased chattels because of the bride price paid despite public claims that it is a token to the parents. They also said there was increasing lust for wealth by girls’ parents demanding exorbitant bride price. This said pride price impoverished the new couple. Two presenters from the MIFUMI Project, said the fleecing of families prompted the Bukedi by-law to put a ceiling.Turner Atuki and Saraha Akello said the recent referendum on bride price showed it was unpopular. The delegates regretted that boys were forced into premature marriage by the parents who do not help couples to start families.Ends