Uganda has banned the practice of making divorced women refund their bride price, it has take many activists and am proud to have been directly involved in this fight alongside several other gender and women activists.
Imagine having to pay to divorce your abuser that has been the case in Uganda. When a man gets a woman to marry, the man has to pay a bride price. Its more of being sold off by your family to your husband, this price gives the man the right to abuse you, rape you and made you a slave and when you intend to divorce you have to refund for whatever a man paid.
Bride price, also known as bride token, is an amount of money, property or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the parents of the woman he has just married or is just about to marry. Bride price can be compare to dowry, which is paid to the groom, or used by the bride to help establish the new household; and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The bride price agreed may or may not be intended to reflect the perceived value of the woman. Some culture may practice both dowry and bride price simultaneously. Many cultures practiced bride price prior to existing records.
Rape Hurts Foundation together held a referendum in Jinja and Kamuli Eastern Uganda in 2009 on whether a bride price should be a non-refundable gift. In 2012, we held a regional conference on the bride price in Jinja, Uganda. It brought together activists from all over Uganda to discuss the effect that payment of bride price has on women. Delegates also talked about ways of eliminating this practice in Uganda. We also issued a preamble position in 2013. In Sept 2013 Rape Hurts Foundation took the Uganda Government to the Constitutional Court wishing the court to rule that the practice of Bride Price is un-constitutional. The case was heard in May 2014. To change customary law on bride price in Uganda, however, change has been so hard as it is guarded by society with some women, especially in the rural areas still approving its relevance. Customary law is also considered more than just bride price but other rituals and ceremonies that enrich Ugandan cultures.