Uganda’s top court on Thursday banned the practice of refunding bride price – normally livestock given by the groom to his bride’s family – when a marriage ends in divorce. This dowry is called a bride price in Uganda. Such women’s families often can not afford to return the price, she said.
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But it was argued that as women tend to have less wealth than their husbands, many became trapped in unhappy relationships.
Leah Nabunnya, a spokeswoman for the Mifumi Project, a Ugandan group which launched the case, said the court’s decision is a victory for women’s rights.
It is common in Uganda and other African countries for husbands and their fathers to demand a refund of the payments – commonly paid in the form of cattle – they have made to a woman’s family in cases where the woman seeks a divorce.
The court officially banned this practice, stating that it treats women as a commodity and also makes it tougher for women seeking divorce.
But as most of the judges acknowledged many Ugandans support the idea of a bride price, which they do not see as a commercial transaction.
Evelyn Schiller, a rep for Mifumi says, “This is a momentous occasion… and this ruling will aid the fight against women and girls’ rights abuses”.
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However most of the judges – six of the seven- said that not enough evidence had been given to prove that payment of bride prices led to domestic violence. MIFUMI argued that a bride price as a condition for a customary marriage undermines the dignity of women, perpetuates gender inequality, and erodes their right to consent freely to marriage.
