Wives at the Market Place: Commercialisation of Lobola and Commodification of Women's bodies in Zimbabwe

Abstract

T7tis paper provides an analysis of how the commercialisation oflobola has impacted women's bodies in present day Zimbabwe. The increased demand for money has led to a widespread belief that marriage payments are synonymous with buying a wife. This has far reaching consequences on gender relations especially in marriage women are left with little power to negotiate on issues such as safe sex or the use of family planning methods. This paper utilises qualitative document analysis focusing on purposively sampled texts from journals, books, on line sources, newspapers and magazines. It uses the concept of patriarchy to highlight how lobola entrenches the system of gender inequalities. The findings of the study show tltat lobola describes services or gC1ods given by a groom to !tis bride's family before a union is socially recognised. The practice has been commercialised in modern day Zimbabwean communities leading to negative implications for women yet the practice retains support of most people.