Bride Price and Dowry

One of the functions of marriage is to create an alliance (however temporary it may be in our culture) between the groom's kin group and the bride's kin group. In many cultures, there is a required exchange of "gifts" (often simply called "dower") between the two groups. If the bride's family (usually father) is required to provide a gift to the couple (or often directly to the groom) the practice is called dowry. If the groom's family is required to provide a gift to the bride's family, the practice is called bridewealth or brideprice. Note that they are not really exact opposites of each other.

Bridewealth

Bridewealth originated with the horticultural/pastoral modes of production. It is specifically associated with patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence. Within the context of these two modes of production, there were several emic reason for brideprice.

• Brideprice was viewed as a compensation to the bride's kin group (normally her patrilineage) for the loss of her labor. In horticultural and pastoral societies women were major economic contributors, and the lineage believed they should be compensated for the loss of a woman through marriage.
• Brideprice also compensated the lineage for the loss of a woman's children. In a patrilineal society, a woman's children belonged to her husband's lineage.
• In some cultures, brideprice was viewed as a "nurturing" charge: the woman's patrilineage had nurtured her to adulthood, and needed to be compensated for their economic investment.

Brideprice was also viewed (and certainly had the etic function) of insuring the bride would be well treated. Since the groom's family (again, usually the lineage) had provided the brideprice, they were interested in the success of the marriage and the good treatment of the bride. Since a divorce might mean part or all of the brideprice would be returned, the bride's family was equally interested in the success of the marriage.

In industrialized cultures such as ours, people often think that brideprice was a reflection of the low prestige accorded to women. In some respects, the opposite was true: women had value, and hence prestige, in these cultures as providers of children and labor. (Of course it is still true that women in most horticultural/pastoral societies had lower prestige, and often less actual authority, than men.)

In the traditional horticultural Hmong culture, brideprice was paid primarily by silver neck rings or by silver coins. The horticultural Hmong, when living in highland Laos or Thailand, would sell raw opium in exchange for silver coins. (U.S. coins--even dollar coins--would not be acceptable since they are not any longer made of silver.) The Hmong would then melt down the coins to form neck rings. The neck rings served several purposes: they were worn by the women during special occasions as a display of lineage or clan wealth; they were a form of savings that could be cashed in during hard times; and they were used in brideprice to obtain wives for the lineage's sons. Some Hmong in the United States still follow this practice, though the brideprice is paid in US cash, usually around $5,000-$6,000. (Click here for more information.)

Hmong Bride in Traditional Dress, wearing the silver neck rings and coins given for brideprice.

For the pastoral Nuer, brideprice traditionally could be paid only in cattle. A female child was valued in part because she brought cattle to her lineage, while a male child brought children to his lineage.

In the horticultural Yanomamo, bridewealth was through brideservice. A man was expected to live for a period of time in his wife's village, among her patrilineage, and work for them. After a sufficient period of time had passed, he could take his wife back to his own patrilineage.

As many horticultural/pastoral societies were transformed by the intensive agriculture and ultimately industrialism, brideprice often assumed a different meaning. A family could now expect and sometimes would demand a cash payment. If the family did not believe the brideprice adequately compensated them for their costs in raising and educating the bride, permission to marry could be withdrawn. In some cultures (parts of modern China and Afghanistan is a good example) a shortage of women has not only raised the level of brideprice, but in a few instances led literally to the selling of young girls by their families. As a result, many nations have outlawed the practice.

Dowry

Dowry is associated originally with the intensive agricultural/agrarian state mode of production. Dowry is hence clearly associated with cultures that have class stratification, where there is an unequal distribution of wealth, prestige, and authority between groups. Dowry traditionally was always more prevalent in the upper class, as a means to transfer a share of the family's assets to daughters as well as sons. In many of these cultures, the daughters could not actually own the assets in question, so they were transferred directly to her husband. Dowry does not indicate high prestige for women; in fact it traditionally was found in cultures where women had low prestige, and upper class women, at least, were not economically productive. A large dowry indicated the wealth of the father, and hence was a sign of prestige for the father. Dowry was also frequently emically viewed as a way of compensating the groom for taking on an economically unproductive woman who would have to be supported for the rest of her life.

In early European agrarian states, dowry was indeed associated with the upper class, and sometimes included the transfer of property from the father of the bride to the groom (since women could not own property.) There is indeed some evidence that the U.S. tradition which has the bride's family paying the majority of the wedding costs is a form of dowry. Since many women now work outside the home, their economic value has increased, and that may be one reason for the increasing trend for the couple to pay the costs of their own wedding.

Another modern industrial state struggling with changes in the meaning of dowry is India. Traditionally dowry was more common in all social classes in agrarian India. In recent decades, as India became more and more industrialized, dowry payments included cash, televisions, furniture, cars, and other consumer goods. While officially dowry is illegal in India, it remains common in certain regions. In addition, displeasure on the part of the groom with the amount of dowry has led to many "dowry deaths", often a euphemism for murder. Click here for an article on "dowry deaths", which also explores the entire practice of dowry in India.