The influence of gendered perception of bride wealth on its practice in Koibatek Sub-County, Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

Bride wealth which is a dominant morality in formalizing marriage is undergoing drastic change resulting from mobility of things and ideas in the context of modernization, urbanization, internationalization, and globalization. These factors have not only changed people‘s realities but have also given individuals freedom and autonomy in making choices about bride wealth. Although much scholarly work exists on the socio-cultural and economic function of bride wealth in most communities, there is a paucity of empirical data on the gendered perception of bride wealth. Guided by Gender Intersectionality theory, this study investigated the influence of gendered perception of bride wealth on its practice in Koibatek- Baringo County. Specifically, the study aimed to achieve the following objectives: to explore individual gendered knowledge about bride wealth, to establish what informs individual gendered knowledge, and to determine how gendered knowledge informs individual practices towards bride wealth. The study adopted an exploratory research design using qualitative approaches. Data was collected from 42 research participants who were selected through snowballing, direct and purposive sampling using in-depth conversational interviews. Additional data was collected from five purposively selected key informants, informal discussions, and observation. Data from in-depth interviews and key informants were in form of narratives and were transcribed ad verbatim. The transcribed data were read and reread and thematically analyzed in relation to the study objectives. The study found that individuals had varied knowledge about bride wealth which was drawn from socio-cultural and religious repertoires on marriage. This knowledge was gendered in terms of age, marital status, level of education, religious affiliation, occupation and ethnicity, and was agentively (re)negotiated, contested and reinvented for the pursuit of self-accomplishment in terms of honor, respect and social acceptance. The study also found that the individuation of bride wealth in terms of honor, respect and social acceptance influenced individual practices toward bride wealth in pursuit of aspired identity and status. The study concludes that an individual‘s knowledge about bride wealth is a gendered and synthesized (re)interpretation of socialized sociocultural understanding of bride wealth in pursuit of individual identities and status. The study recommends that in order to understand an individual‘s knowledge about bride wealth it is important to take into account individual positionalities in terms of gender, age, level of education, religious affiliations, marital status and ethnicity, and their own desired identities and social status contextually.