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South Sudan – A Girl’s Value in Cattle Increases with Education
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South
Sudanese Girls - Photo: Cordaid/Arie Kievit |
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15 September – By Anitra van der Kraan
When I visited South Sudan in June, I was
struck by the dowry price that women and girls have on their heads. On the one
hand, a girls’ worth in the number of cattle increases when she is educated. On
the other hand, only 35% of South Sudanese girls go to school (UNICEF, 2015)
and women are more often than not perceived as less (valuable) than men.
Dowry
In a country where rearing livestock is
the primary livelihood, young girls can be wed or forced to marry from the age
of twelve in exchange for cattle. In pastoralist communities, the dowry is
often higher, but even when a man doesn’t have any cattle as a source of
income, he has to pay a dowry (in cattle) to the father of the girl he wishes
or is arranged to marry. The dowry can vary from 15 to over a hundred heads of
cattle per girl. One head of cattle can cost up to 250 US dollars. And men
don’t only have to pay this once, but several times during their lifetime when
they remarry.
THE
DOWRY CAN VARY FROM 15 TO OVER A HUNDRED HEADS OF CATTLE PER GIRL.
Girls’ Education
A conspicuous thing I learned is that a
girls’ bride wealth increases when she has enjoyed education, from primary
school to university. Actually, by law, the (soon to be) husband is obligated
to pay for her tuition fees in case she is in school when she is married off. I
spoke to one of our drivers in Juba and he told me that he’s paying the tuition
fees of his five sisters. He also said that he will retrieve the school fees he
has paid over the years from his future “brother-in-law”. The school fees add
up to the accrued bride wealth, as a result of the girl’s enrollment in school.
This means that fathers (or brothers when these are the heads of the household)
are rewarded when they send their girls to school.
Education and Development
I did not research whether this law is being strictly abided by or whether girls have the freedom to choose a profession that links to their previous education. But, I do think it’s striking that education is promoted this way, while the primary reasons girls drop out of school are early marriage and household chores. Looking at it from the bright side, compulsory (and free) education for girls (and boys) underlines the awareness on the importance of education in South Sudan. To me this is positive, because “girls’ education has proven to be one of the most cost-effective strategies to promote development and economic growth” (UNICEF, 2015).