The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for MARR-LAW-4

Feb. 20, 2024, 6:27 p.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Dowries are still required under the revised Code (arts. 361–367 and 426), which provides that no marriage can be registered unless the dowry is processed" (17).
Sept. 6, 2023, 5:32 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Dowries have been illegal in India since 1961" (para 1).
Aug. 8, 2023, 12:20 p.m.
Countries: Senegal
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"With respect to matrimonial property, if the dowry system is applied pursuant to article 385, property given to the woman at the time of her marriage by persons other than her spouse and subject to the dowry system (real estate, securities deposited with the bank or animals) will be handed over to the husband. He will then administer them during the marriage, as a good family man." (24-25).
June 8, 2023, 11:09 p.m.
Countries: Zimbabwe
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Payment of lobola before marriage under customary union is now mandatory after Parliament passed the Marriages Amendment Bill on Tuesday with a clause empowering marriage officers to ascertain whether bride price was paid" (Para.1). ""In Senate sitting last week, Clause 16 of the Bill sailed through with little debate after both parties agreed to include lobola as a pre-condition to solemnise customary marriage.The Bill now require marriage officers who also include traditional leaders to ask both couples including witnesses who must be relatives, if bride price was paid" (Para.6-7).
Jan. 6, 2022, 12:09 p.m.
Countries: Somalia
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Bride prices and/dowry prices are not legal per se. But it is custom for a woman to receive her gift from her husband. There is no set price on this, it is whatver the husband and wife agree on" (1).
March 31, 2021, 8:33 p.m.
Countries: Nepal
Variables: MAAO-PRACTICE-1, MURDER-PRACTICE-1, MARR-LAW-4, AOM-LAW-1

"The government has outlawed a number of harmful practices including chhaupadi (menstrual seclusion), dowry, witchcraft allegations, and child marriage. However, enforcement remains weak, and these deeply entrenched practices continue" (para 12).
March 13, 2021, 6:38 p.m.
Countries: Somalia
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

The Somali penal code [ . . . ] also punishes same-sex intercourse" (para 17). "The federal Sexual Offences Bill has been submitted before parliament, but had yet to be debated at time of writing" (para 18).
Oct. 22, 2020, 2:46 p.m.
Countries: Bolivia
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"However, in 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that such a revision of gender did not grant the right to marry a person of the same biological sex. Same-sex couples are not allowed to marry or engage in civil unions. Bolivia’s 2009 constitution defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman" (38).
Sept. 11, 2020, 9:58 p.m.
Countries: Nepal
Variables: MAAO-PRACTICE-1, MURDER-PRACTICE-1, MARR-LAW-4, AOM-LAW-1

"The government has outlawed a number of harmful practices including chhaupadi (menstrual seclusion), dowry, witchcraft allegations, and child marriage. However, enforcement remains weak, and these deeply entrenched practices continue" (para 12).
Aug. 11, 2020, 7:11 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4

“Being born a girl in India, as many such stories will show anyone, comes with a challenge in many families. A heady mix of culture, tradition and empty belief culminate in a demand for the male child, for a girl is not a preferred choice. If anything, a girl is perceived as a liability for many, many families in India, while a boy is seen as an asset. To families that are ridden by poverty and schooled in a warped cultural ideology, a girl is perceived as an extra mouth to feed and an economic burden since she cannot work as a male child can, and since her marriage would...more
Aug. 10, 2020, 7:03 p.m.
Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"According to women’s advocates, registration of marriages continues to be voluntary and as a result child and forced marriages are more likely to be unregistered. The lack of registration of marriages imposes difficulties on women with regard to their right to seek divorce in addition to their right to a dower (mahr), maintenance and child custody" (4).
May 21, 2020, 8:43 p.m.
Countries: Guatemala
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-4, MARR-LAW-4, ATDW-PRACTICE-1

"Article 89 (3) of Decree Law No. 106 of the Head of Government (Civil Code) was repealed. That provision established that a woman could not marry until 300 days had passed following the dissolution of her previous marriage or de facto union or the annulment of the marriage, unless she gave birth during that time or one of the spouses was materially separated from the other or absent for the above-mentioned period. If the marriage was annulled owing to the husband’s impotence, the woman need not wait to remarry" (41).
Nov. 7, 2019, 6:16 p.m.
Countries: Egypt
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4

"According to the law, a foreign man who wants to marry an Egyptian woman more than 25 years younger than he is must pay a fine of EGP 50,000 ($2,830)." (45-46).
Aug. 9, 2019, 1 p.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: ERBG-LAW-1, MARR-LAW-4, CRPLB-PRACTICE-1

"A 2015 women’s parity law provides women a number of protections. It permits women to participate in economic domains without approval of male relatives, provides for maternity care, disallows inequities linked to dowries, and specifies fines and other sanctions for those who discriminate or engage in gender-based abuse. Women, however, experienced economic discrimination" (page 41).
July 19, 2019, 12:22 p.m.
Countries: Nepal
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4

"The constitution criminalizes violence against or oppression of women based on religious, social, or cultural traditions and gives victims the right to compensation. The new criminal code makes the practice of paying dowries illegal and imposes penalties of up to NRs 30,000 ($300), prison sentences of up to three years, or both. The legislation also criminalizes violence committed against one’s spouse in connection to a dowry, imposing fines of up to NRs 50,000 ($500), prison sentences of up to five years, or both. Additionally, the 2015 Act to Amend Some Nepal Acts to Maintain Gender Equality and End Gender-Based Violence stipulates that any psychological abuse of women, including asking for...more
July 17, 2019, 3:48 p.m.
Countries: Singapore
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"The absence of legislation regulating the foreign bride trade, which may involve trafficking in women and girls" (6).
July 8, 2019, 1:19 p.m.
Countries: Uganda
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4, ATDW-PRACTICE-1

"On August 6, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the practice of refunding the bride price after the breakdown of a customary marriage. Chief Justice Bart Katureebe wrote, “the practice of refunding bride price suggests that women are held on loan and can be returned and money recovered.” The court, however, rejected the argument that bride price itself was unconstitutional. Mifumi, a women’s rights organization that brought the case to court, stated bride price encouraged domestic violence and led men to believe they had paid for their wives’ sexual and reproductive capacity" (Pg 30).
June 28, 2019, 8:55 a.m.
Countries: South Sudan
Variables: MARR-LAW-4, CUST-LAW-1

"Despite statutory law to the contrary, under customary law a divorce is not final until the wife and her family return the full dowry to the husband’s family. As a result, families often dissuaded women from divorce. Traditional courts usually ruled in favor of the husband’s family in most cases of child custody, unless children were between three and seven years of age" (Pg 37).
May 25, 2019, 3:39 p.m.
Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4

"Baad and Baadal refers to traditional practices common to some parts of Afghanistan in which unmarried girls are given or exchanged to resolve disputes or stand in place of a dowry. They are generally recognized to be ethnically-based traditions that often contradict Islamic principles. Baad usually occurs in the context of a past crime or local conflict. The family of the wrongdoing party resolves the matter by giving an unmarried girl or girls to the family who was been wronged. Because these girls are perceived as atoning for the wrong committed by their family members, they are often the victims of serious abuse by the receiving family. Baadal is an...more
May 14, 2019, 10:55 a.m.
Countries: Russia
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-PRACTICE-7, MARR-LAW-1, MARR-LAW-4

The customs noted in this article were for a Sufi Muslim family in Chechnya in Russia. The customs include brideprice (the groom gave the bride's father livestock), and that "The groom’s representatives also brought cash, to give directly to the bride, not her father. Religious authorities in Chechnya regulate the sum, to keep a check on bride payment inflation. Still, it went up last year, rising from the ruble equivalent of about $470 to $780." The article noted that the bride and groom do not attend the wedding: "each separately committed to the marriage in ceremonies a few hours apart . . . the bride in her father's home." Vows...more
March 15, 2019, 11:35 a.m.
Countries: Vanuatu
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Customary bride-price payments continued to increase and contributed to the perception of male ownership of women"(9).
Feb. 23, 2019, 11:34 a.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"As concerns appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations, and in response to the Committee’s recommendation contained in paragraph 38 of the concluding observations, articles 17 and 18 of Act No. 15/013 of 1 August 2015 on means of giving effect to women’s rights and gender parity provide as follows: Article 17: ‘Without prejudice to the provisions of the Family Code, men and women have the same rights and obligations in their family and marital relations’; Article 18: ‘Women’s right to marriage and their quality of life in the household shall not be hindered because of the dowry’" (13).more
Sept. 26, 2018, 10:41 a.m.
Countries: Eritrea
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"In reality, the majority of marriages concluded in Eritrea are either customary, religious, or a mixture of customary and religious... Traditionally, common features of these marriages include providing a guarantor (wahs in Tigrinya), dowry (outlawed by Proclamation No. 2/1991), feast (food, drink such as: enjera and swa, and dancing), and church ceremony" (8).
Sept. 4, 2018, 10:28 a.m.
Countries: Solomon Islands
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Customary bride-price payments continued to increase and contributed to the perception of ownership over women" (10). It is not indicated whether this is legal or illegal. However, the casualness of the statement causes me to assume that bride-price is legal within the country (AA-CODER COMMENT).
Sept. 4, 2018, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: Nepal
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"The practice of paying dowries is illegal, with penalties of up to 10,000 rupees ($100) and prison sentences of up to three years. Additionally, the Bill to Amend Some Nepal Acts to Maintain Gender Equality and End Gender-Based Violence, signed into law in October, stipulates that any psychological torture of women including asking for dowry, humiliation, physical torture, and shunning women for not providing a dowry is punishable" (28).
Aug. 30, 2018, 2:23 p.m.
Countries: East Timor
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Barlake has the positive effect of acting as a symbol of mutual respect between families brought together by marriage, providing material assistance to family members in need of support, and establishing clarity regarding future inheritance rights. The responsibility of meeting obligations also has the function of committing the fetosan (husband) to valuing and ensuring the safety and well-being of the new wife. Nevertheless, it is possible that the protracted nature of the husband's obligations to offer gifts or outlays to the wife and her family, and the growing cost of this form of bride price in the modern cash economy, may have adverse consequences over time, including increasing resentment within...more
Aug. 28, 2018, 10:03 a.m.
Countries: Mali
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"The Committee is deeply concerned that the progressive provisions on women’s rights included in the preliminary draft of the revised Personal and Family Code were lost during the second reading in the National Assembly as a result of pressure from conservative and religious groups, resulting in the 2011 Code, which contains many discriminatory provisions, including: . . . payment of bride prices (art. 288)" (page 13).
June 6, 2018, 7:20 a.m.
Countries: Somalia
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1, MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4

"National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale has urged his fellow clansmen to lower the bride price, stating that in many instances, it is too high. The legislator, while asking Muslim men to marry more wives and get more children, said that the dowry demanded by most families is out reach for many" (para 1-2).
May 31, 2018, 4:21 p.m.
Countries: Uganda
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"Uganda's Supreme Court has ruled that the practice of refunding a bride price on the dissolution of a customary marriage is unconstitutional and should be banned. The judges said it suggested that women were in a market place, and infringed on their right to divorce. But they rejected the argument that the bride price itself was unconstitutional" (para 1-3). "There was a gasp in the court-room when the first justice ruled against the refunding of the bride price. This is being seen by those behind the case as a major step in chipping away at a tradition that is detrimental to women. But as most of the judges acknowledged many...more
March 27, 2018, 10:03 a.m.
Countries: India
Variables: MARR-LAW-4

"In 1961, the Dowry Prohibition Act made giving and taking of dowry, its abetment or the demand for it an offence punishable with imprisonment and fine or without the latter" (para 1). "The Criminal Law Amendment Act in 1983 inserted a new section (498-A) to deal with persistent and grave instances of dowry demand and such offences were punishable with imprisonment extendable to three years" (para 1).