German Institute for Global and Area Studies Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien. Marriage is an important marker for adulthood across the globe. Yet, participation in the marriage market — looking for a spouse and forming a union — dating someone ten years younger sub-Saharan Africa is constrained, and the marriage market is an important institution shaping and maintaining inequality in income and opportunities. Traditional marriage practices, such as that of polygyny, where one man is married to more than one woman at the same time, are still prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and lead to a situation where some men, particularly the young, struggle to find a wife and start a family. Having more men than women in the marriage market gives rise to competition amongst men, spurring frustration and anger among those that struggle to find a bride. Dating someone ten years younger imbalance between men and women in the marriage market has been associated with increasing rebel attacks and intergroup conflict in the region. Hence, there is a palpable need to pay more attention to the marriage market, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, many of which are already struggling with political and societal instability. A more complete characterisation of the marriage market and its actors is necessary to better understand the underlying forces that cause young and unmarried men to gravitate towards violence. Governments must begin to recognise the importance of the marriage market as an institution perpetrating injustices and economic grievances. At the same time, targeted strategies need to be developed that recognise and address perceived inequalities and thus pre-empt promises by extremist groups, who exploit the relative dearth of brides as a recruitment strategy. Targeted information campaigns and appeals are only short-term solutions. Direct interventions in the marriage market might encounter pushback. New ways of thinking based on deeper research may be required. The importance of the family as a social institution is non-controversial. Yet, family formation and the role of the marriage market — with the exception of child marriage — are rarely the focus of researchers and practitioners thinking about economic development and policy in sub-Saharan Africa SSA. This is despite the fact that marriage and family are still relatively more important to the people in the region than elsewhere in the world. Data from the latest World Value Surveys wave — illustrates this Figure 1. This compares to about 85 per cent of respondents in Brazil and China, and just below 90 per cent in Germany. Marriage markets are an important determinant of human capital investments, labour force participation, risk-sharing opportunities, and fertility outcomes Chiappori, Meghir, and Costa Dias ; Rossi The academic literature, with a focus on the United States, has long recognised that searching and matching in the marriage market — the process through which couples meet and a union is formed — does have important implications for income inequality. Assortative mating — a situation whereby marriage is entered into by people of similar backgrounds, represented by qualities such as educational attainment or financial means — tends to not only mechanically amplify inequality between individuals but also carries inequalities forward to future generations. Because parents endowed with a larger stock of human capital invest more in their children, inequality carries over to the next generation. A lot of research on the marriage market in high-income countries is motivated by the role the marriage market plays for income distribution and inequality. In comparison, we have little knowledge about the workings of marriage markets and search and matching in middle- and low-income countries in general, and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, even though inequality in income and opportunities are also pertinent concerns to policymakers there. A recent study by Pesando shows that educational assortive mating is practised throughout SSA, with particularly low-educated individuals increasingly sorting into homogeneous unions and thus carrying forward income inequality. Polygyny is still a prevalent practice in SSA. In the polygyny belt — the region spanning from Senegal to Uganda — at least every fourth woman is in a polygynous union Figure 2. The practice of polygyny is problematic for a number of reasons: Research has shown that the practice is detrimental to women, with negative consequences for female empowerment, education, and health, and it is an important determinant of the still high population growth in SSA Rossi ; Tertilt ; Wagner and Rieger Furthermore, there is a longstanding notion that the practice of polygyny promotes violence and societal instability. Of the 18 sub-Saharan African countries on the list of fragile and conflict-affected states released by the World Bank, 13 have polygyny rates above the regional mean of 20 per cent. Furthermore, Krieger and Renner show that polygyny correlates positively with social unrest across 41 African countries. However, why should polygyny lead to instability? The putative link between polygyny and instability may lie in the marriage market. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the social status of men depends on having a family, such deprivation can be particularly dire, leading young men to gravitate dating someone ten years younger organised violence. Being unmarried, these young men have low opportunity costs or simply less to lose by banding together and committing crimes, unrest, or violence. Inequality is also a key issue here. If brides are scarce, bride prices rise. This puts increasing pressure on men to accumulate wealth to be competitive in the marriage market, which further disadvantages those from poorer backgrounds. With few formal employment opportunities, crime, plundering, and violence might be the only options men can envision to acquire wealth and brides Hudson and Matfess Terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, exploit this situation, promising brides to their primary recruits — young, unmarried men. There is indeed a small body of research from Asia that finds that the shortage of women in the marriage market positively associates with young men turning to crime and insurrection Edlund et al.
Dee Marques shares eight key strategies to help you deal with the. Yousef eds , Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East , New York: Brookings Institution Press. Indeed, polygyny is currently banned in 16 of the 46 sub-Saharan African countries. Ein Abonnement. Beiträge 1 — 15 von
The Marriage Market – A Perpetrator of Inequality
As in wey-ting. Waiting. Widening age gaps are in. From USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR Xavier Neal comes a brand-new, smoking hot, age-gap romance that you DON'T wanna miss! Divorce. A new, sexy standalone novel from New York Times Bestsellers, Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward I was the last of my group of friends to find “the one.”. I was alone with three kids, no job, no direction, and a heart shattered into a million pieces. 10 years ago, I hit rock bottom. In Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal at least four in ten women are more than 10 years younger than their spouses.Meenakshi Preisser English Copyeditor and Translator. In sub-Saharan Africa birth cohorts currently keep growing, at 2 to 3 per cent per year. May 30, This puts increasing pressure on men to accumulate wealth to be competitive in the marriage market, which further disadvantages those from poorer backgrounds. Chaosolous Profil anzeigen Beiträge anzeigen. Rexer, Jonah , The Brides of Boko Haram: Economic Shocks, Marriage Practices, and Insurgency in Nigeria , in: The Economic Journal , accessed 10 March There is indeed a small body of research from Asia that finds that the shortage of women in the marriage market positively associates with young men turning to crime and insurrection Edlund et al. Only within my generation. The authors provide further evidence that underlying the higher readiness for conflict are feelings of inequality and anger. Hence, relying on the practice to disappear as education levels rise — an argument that we often hear in the context of female empowerment or labour force participation — might be overly optimistic in this context. Kontakt Verwenden Sie das nachstehende Formular, und wir werden uns so schnell wie möglich bei Ihnen melden. He is not in love with me. Fügen Sie ihn im nächsten Schritt hinzu. Based on these more detailed insights, new thinking on policy responses will be needed. Ein Mal pro Kunde. Anmelden Shop Startseite Entdeckungsliste Wunschliste Punkteshop Neuigkeiten Statistiken. I don't see much problems about dating younger or older women, as long as we go well together. Sonia Vadlamani erklärt, warum langjährige soziale Beziehungen wichtig für unser Wohlbefinden und unser Glück sind und welche Qualitäten eine echte. A second piece of evidence comes from Rexer , who links the inequality induced by polygyny to an increasing incidence of attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Having more men than women in the marriage market gives rise to competition amongst men, spurring frustration and anger among those that struggle to find a bride. Hartwig, Renate , Happy Ever After? Figure 3 is a replication from his paper based on data from Demographic and Health Surveys from to , covering 25, communities across 24 sub-Saharan African countries. Yousef eds , Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East , New York: Brookings Institution Press. A lot of research on the marriage market in high-income countries is motivated by the role the marriage market plays for income distribution and inequality. Juni um Ein Abonnement. If men do not have enough women to marry in their own age cohort, they might resort to marrying younger women. At the same time, targeted strategies need to be developed that recognise and address perceived inequalities and thus pre-empt promises by extremist groups, who exploit the relative dearth of brides as a recruitment strategy. Yet, family formation and the role of the marriage market — with the exception of child marriage — are rarely the focus of researchers and practitioners thinking about economic development and policy in sub-Saharan Africa SSA. I've dated older and younger women than me. In the polygyny belt — the region spanning from Senegal to Uganda — at least every fourth woman is in a polygynous union Figure 2. Neue Diskussion starten. Posted October 10, German Institute for Global and Area Studies Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien.
