Erschienen in:
Journal of Asian and African Studies, 56 (2021) 8, Seite 1819-1833
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.1177/0021909621992783
ISSN:
0021-9096;
1745-2538
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
This article examines current discourses on the role of the bridewealth in subordinating women and the implications of gender justice advocacy that privilege the undoing of this practice. In northern Ghana, to liberate women from oppression, some women’s rights activists advocate the abolition of the marriage payment. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered in north-western Ghana, we argue that dismantling the institution of the bridewealth risks worsening women’s subordination. Gender activism needs to be sensitive to contextual norms and respectful of the ‘oppressed’ subjects of ‘liberation’. We propose a return to the traditional court as a site for negotiating women’s emancipation.