Should Africa Ban Bride Prices?

Uganda's highest court will next month rule whether the giving of bride price is unconstitutional. Is it time to ban dowries?

Known as 'lobola' in the south, 'mahari' in the east and 'wine-carrying' in the west, a prospective husband is expected to give a certain amount of money and goods such as cattle, goats, or blankets before a marriage is agreed.

But women's rights activists in Uganda have asked the Constitutional Court to ban it, arguing that the age-old traditional practice reduces wives to being the property of their husband.

Do bride prices infringe human rights or symbolise love and good faith between families? If you're a woman, does a dowry make you feel objectified or appreciated? Did the failure to pay a bride price stop you from getting married? If you're a man, do you feel bride price is a burden? Should states legislate on such cultural issues?

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