This week’s discussion is inspired by the new Cargo Gin Bitters advert currently running on television in Ghana. In this advert, a man was asked to spell C-A-R-G-O to hurriedly take his wife away. He did and took his wife away. Spelling the five lettered word was the dowry or bride price the man paid to the lady’s father. Funny I know.
The above might seem like a funny advert to sell a product but then it makes a lot of sense. Which man doesn’t want to get married, have kids and enjoy the good things in life? Before getting married, there are long list of requirements that must be met by the man to the woman’s family.
I eavesdropped on a conversation between two middle aged gentlemen. The conversation was centered on the fact that one of the men wants to get married to his long time sweetheart but one thing seems to be the stumbling block. You can guess what it was by now, right?
The tall list of things to be bought and the paying of the dowry seems to be weighing heavily on Mr. Lover man’s head. However, if am not exaggerating the things to be bought apart from the normal things we know are really crazy, as if to say the man is Father Christmas to offer gifts just like that.
Crazy in a sense that some of the things in the list are outrageous; you then begin to wonder if you are paying the dowry for 50 girls. I am not saying parents should give out their girls for free.
Earlier on, a close friend also disclosed similar things to me, about holding on his marriage because he couldn’t afford the things asked by the lady’s family. Before then I had watched an African movie where a man wants to marry his sweetheart. The man was asked to buy things which are used in building houses, as if the man is coming to build a house instead of marrying his loving woman.
How difficult is it for parents to know that they can’t recoup all they have spent on their daughters overnight? Can we not say that the high price of dowries asked by parents can also partly be blamed for the broken homes we have in Africa?
I know there are thousands of ladies out there, whose marriages have been put on hold because of needless dowries required from their parents from their suitors.
Now, let’s get talking… As a man, are you ready to pay sky-scraping bride prices? What is the most you would ever think of paying or paid?
As a woman, what is your take on bride prices? What or how much would you want a man to spend on your head? Are you in support of the needless bride prices that parents demand?
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