Our Women, sisters and daughters are not slaves and they can’t be slaves because of bride price
By Wisdom Oniekpar Ikuli
Our sisters and daughters are not goods and commodities that are buyable with money.Bride Price should not take away the dignity and pride of womanhood, motherhood and human values in our great women.
Women deserve to be treated with great respect and dignity as humans.Men don’t need to compare or treat their wives like properties that they buy or acquire because of Bride Price that they paid.
In any case, how much is Bride Price compared to the unquantifiable role women play in the family, home?Can you pay for the sexual services and emotional companionship women render?
Can you compare the Bride Price with the inestimable amount her parents and guardians expanded on her education and upbringing?
While I am not holding brief for women, I think some men need to reexamine themselves and also have a rethink about the way and manner they treat their wives.
I hope they are aware and also conscious of the fact that their wives are daughters of other people? How will such men feel if their son in-law maltreat their own daughters the way they are treating their wives so shabbily and shamefully?
Parents, guardians and families also have great role to play in curbing the above menace and ill-treatment of women. That you collected Bride Price does not mean you have sold your daughter into slavery. Don’t be carried away with the benefits you get from your son in-laws at the expense and detriment of the joy, happiness and safety of your daughters who are wallowing in agony.
By marriage both husband and wife become one body meaning that they become the first among equals but that does not undermine the fact that they both come from families and that the families still have some key and very sensitive roles to play especially here in Africa where we live communal lifestyles.
Here in Africa, Couples don’t marry rather it is families and communities that marry. Marriages are contracted between two families and communities with the husband and wife as symbols of such great Unions.
Communalism encourages collectivism, a community lifestyle where we share both good and bad times together. While we do not encourage unnecessary interferences in marriages, it is also important and very advisable too for families to do periodic check on their sons and daughters which is not crime. Such harmless checks can save and also help to rescue and restore a lot of things.
I wish you a very pleasant and memorable weekend.
Most Senior Comrade Wisdom Oniekpar Ikuli
Mirror and Conscience of Society
* Executive Director
Centre for Peace Advocacy & Social Rehabilitation
* Former National Director of Mobilization & Chairman, Action Committee
Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide.
* Former Acting President
Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide
* National President
Niger Delta Nonviolence Agitators Forum (NDNAF)
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