Bridewealth, Gender Norms and Bodily Autonomy
Bridewealth
Bridewealth payment is made during marriage in Africa wherein the man's family pays the negotiated amount to the woman's family. It could include goods such as livestock, clothing, fabric, beads, household goods, drinks, besides money. When this exchange takes place in which the man's family pays the amount to the bride's family, the former gains access to the woman’s reproductive and domestic services. It is considered as compensation to the bride's family for the loss of the woman's domestic as well as reproductive labor. Once the full payment has been made, the man gains the right over the woman's reproductive services. This practice has gained widespread social approval and women, who by any means attempt to assert their autonomy tend to encounter social disapproval. Therefore, it exposes women to normative constraints on their reproductive autonomy.
Even after centuries of social and economic changes, the norm of paying bridewealth remains in practice, particularly in the African continent. In some societies, bridewealth can be paid in installments over time. In some communities, full bridewealth is paid upon ensuring a woman's fertility, ie. after the child is born.
Bridewealth payment triggers norms constraining a woman’s reproductive autonomy. Norms are socially enforced rules or expectations about behavior. The deviants are expected to face social disapproval or punishment. Therefore, a woman’s failure to meet the normative obligations created by bridewealth payment leads to social disapproval.
This normative constraint leads to limited or decreased reproductive autonomy for women which results in numerous health implications from risk of HIV infection, high fertility, and exposure to domestic violence.
This is just one instance where women do not exercise their autonomy with respect to reproductive choices due to the norms and practices which have been prevalent for generations.
Gender Norms
Gender norms play a vital role in sexual and reproductive health. Traditional norms strictly outlines the boundaries for intimate relationships and sexual acts. With the onset of puberty, girls and boys are expected to follow different norms about acceptable involvement in intimate and sexual relationships. These gender norms tend to create a skeleton within which they are expected to adjust as per gender. Girls are expected to be modest and maintain their purity, while boys are encouraged to engage in sexual activity in order to uphold the traditional notions of masculinity. There are innumerable instances where adolescent girls and young women bear the brunt of inadequate policy and programming, patriarchal mindset in addition to persistent gender inequality which denies them the right to understand and control their bodies and dictate their life choices. Transgender and gender non-conforming people are pressured to attach themselves with one particular gender.
In many countries adolescent sexuality and sexual activity outside marriage remain taboo. Data depicts an alarming picture as "more than 18 million adolescent girls give birth every year in low and middle income countries and complications in pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of their mortality. Twenty million girls aged 15-19 in LMICs have an unmet need for modern contraception. Nearly half of pregnancies among this age group are unintended and some 3.9 million girls have unsafe abortions. Girls are also highly vulnerable to STIs and HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa they were three times more likely to be infected than boys."
Norms About Feminine Behaviour
Girls are condemned and judged when they engage in sexual activity before marriage. They are encouraged to refrain from such behavior. Most societies remain dogmatic and narrow minded due to which women who have premarital sex are subjected to stigma while accessing healthcare services. Not only this, they are also blamed by the society in general and the family in particular for bringing dishonour to the family. In addition to this, girls face more stigma from health providers in comparison to men. Girls, fearing these consequences, try to cover up their changing bodies when they reach puberty. Families so as to preserve family honor exercise a considerable amount of control over their movements, social interactions and plan to marry them off at an early age to ensure their “purity”.
Married women have little choice over family planning and are frequently expected to bear children. Young women who cannot communicate openly with their partners are less likely to use contraception or more likely to conceal its use. "Data from 45 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, show that only 52% of women of reproductive age who are married or in a union make their own decisions about sexual relations or contraceptive use."
Obedience and submission to male authority forms typical features of traditional femininity. Women, owing to unequal gender relations, have limited ability to negotiate condom use or any contraception as they could be perceived as unfaithful, or face partner violence and sexual coercion that increase their vulnerability to unwanted pregnancies, STIs and HIV. Women whose partners are ten or more years older find it difficult to negotiate safe sex practices and are often abused. Multiple factors such as fear, limited knowledge, lack of resources or services and discriminatory laws often lead girls and women to resort to informal practitioners and dangerous practices to terminate a pregnancy or deal with a sexual problem. The relationship between pregnancy and access to safe abortion is also shaped by gender norms.
Norms About Masculine Behaviour
The patriarchy doesn't spare men when it comes to norms and ideals. Men too, from adolescence, are exposed to gender norms that encourage them to indulge in sexual acts often with many heterosexual partners, and remain dominant so as to prove their manhood. Also, limited access to sexual education, lack of youth-friendly services and traditional norms about sexuality and reproduction act as key barriers to sexual and reproductive health. Sexual intercourse is perceived as an affirmation of masculine power which dissociates them from intimacy and emotional bonding as feminine traits. The socialization of men in accordance with these norms leads to them perceiving themselves as powerful and capable of controlling women. Such norms expect them to satisfy their drives through force and through the submission of women, thus legitimizing forced sexual intercourse. Peer pressure leads men to display virility to avoid ridicule. Boys who are not in consonance with these norms encounter sanctions.
Studies have revealed that greater adherence to gender-inequitable norms is associated with greater male control of sexual decision-making, perpetration of rape, unprotected sex and multiple sex partners. Therefore, depriving women of their bodily rights. In a patriarchal context, women experience domestic violence or poor health when they try to take on new norms in an inequitable and unchanged environment. Gender norms are embedded in such a way that people hesitate to reach out to reproductive health services, resulting in low rates of STI or HIV testing.
The deeply rooted social and gender norms create male dominance. These biased norms, stereotypes, lack of information regarding one's rights and freedom, act as major hurdles to individuals exercising bodily autonomy and their freedom to make choices. Overcoming these challenges will require a deep change in the mindsets and attitudes of people. There is a need for comprehensive sex education and reproductive rights. In addition to these laws promoting women’s autonomy and decision-making on sexual and reproductive health, they are also essential for protecting the rights of adolescent girls, and advocating for policies that advance gender equality and reproductive rights that strengthen, rather than constrain, human rights and freedom. Equal laws and rights are necessary for those belonging to sexual minorities who face even greater difficulties, especially in areas where same-sex sexual activity is criminalized.
Conclusion
The rigid and strictly reinforced gender norms and societal values regarding women's sexuality result in the violation of many sexual and reproductive rights. Patriarchal concepts of women’s roles within the family value them only for their ability to reproduce. Early marriage and pregnancy, or repeated pregnancies to produce male offspring because of the preference for sons has a devastating impact on women’s health, sometimes even proving to be fatal. The burden of bearing and rearing children remains on women and they are in many instances abused by means of verbal and non-verbal methods by family members for not being fertile or not bearing a son for the family. Women and girls have the right to information as well as the services and the means to make decisions about their own bodies and lives – free from violence, discrimination or coercion – they can chart their own destiny and realize their full potential. Society and family will grow and develop once they are free from the clutches of biased gender norms and practices, provide social approval to women's independent choices in all areas and acknowledge their basic rights.
Justina, a young human rights defender in Argentina says:
“If you want to improve your quality of life and the quality of life for all women, never stop questioning society or calling for change.”
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