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 — in 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. The 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, dating someone ten years younger 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 dating someone ten years younger 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 dating someone ten years younger be particularly dire, leading young men to gravitate towards 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. In Asia, however, the imbalance in the marriage market does not stem from the marriage practice of polygyny but is a result of strong preference for sons and sex-selective abortion, leading to a male overhang at birth. In India and China, for example, there are currently approximately India or China male children born for every female children. Hence, as these male cohorts mature, they face more competition over the relatively few women on the marriage market.
Ein Mal pro Kunde. Petra Brandt Editorial Management. Charlotte Heyl. I'd date with no problem but no relationship, unless exceptional circumstance and that is nothing to do with age. 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.
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Waiting. Divorce. From USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR Xavier Neal comes a brand-new, smoking hot, age-gap romance that you DON'T wanna miss! As in wey-ting. 10 years ago, I hit rock bottom. 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.”. Widening age gaps are in. I was alone with three kids, no job, no direction, and a heart shattered into a million pieces. In Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal at least four in ten women are more than 10 years younger than their spouses.Einer unserer Support-Mitarbeiter wird sich in Kürze bei Ihnen melden. Lone Wolf Profil anzeigen Beiträge anzeigen. May 30, Yet, one qualification should be made: The existing empirical evidence concentrates on the group level. Being unmarried, these young men have low opportunity costs or simply less to lose by banding together and committing crimes, unrest, or violence. Krieger, Tim, and Laura Renner , Polygyny, Inequality, and Social Unrest , accessed 10 March Targeted information campaigns and appeals are only short-term solutions. This view corroborates qualitative evidence from Burkina Faso, where young men express that if they remain unmarried by the age of 30 to 35 the family will start looking for a bride for them. Pesando, Luca Maria , Educational Assortative Mating in Sub-Saharan Africa: Compositional Changes and Implications for Household Wealth Inequality, in: Demography , 58, 2, — Dancygier, Rafaela, Naoki Egami, Amaney Jamal, and Ramona Rischke , Hate Crimes and Gender Imbalances: Fears over Mate Competition and Violence against Refugees, in: American Journal of Political Sciences , 66, 2, — Corvus XIII Profil anzeigen Beiträge anzeigen. 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. Personally, I don't care one way or the other, as long as you're adults over 18 then date whoever you want. Lektorat GIGA Focus Afrika. I'd date with no problem but no relationship, unless exceptional circumstance and that is nothing to do with age. Based on these more detailed insights, new thinking on policy responses will be needed. Because parents endowed with a larger stock of human capital invest more in their children, inequality carries over to the next generation. It's best to not concern yourself. May 31, For many of us, once the festive holiday season is over the January blues start to set in. Ursprünglich geschrieben von Face Diaper :. Peaches Profil anzeigen Beiträge anzeigen. Women from the Eastern federal states migrate more often than men to the wealthier Western states, leaving many rural communities with a surplus of men of marriage age. I've dated older and younger women than me. Recommended Posts.
