Her husband his participation in the agricultural activities is to prepare the land for sowing (including cutting the trees in the cultivated land). And he used to take the harvest to the market without consulting her. She did not know at what price he sold the harvest and neither had any decision making power on how to use the income earned. They are now together, husband and wife, in the group and take decisions together. She hopes that one day he leaves drinking alcohol, but it does not hurt her so much as before when they hardly had any communication and faced a lot of domestic violence.
When she was married the elder male relatives in the household of her husband took the decision with whom she had to marry. Families pay the bride price usually in cows or money. It is still customary law, together with other traditions and rituals. Next to constitutional changes in the law made in 2001, changes in customary law are necessary to abolish the practice. The bride price is considered the purchase price of a wife, and the husband exercises economic control over his wife. Nowadays Martha knows that she as a woman, has a say in the household and with whom her daughters are going to marry. She has a say where the money from the bride price should be spent on. Despite the fact that according to customary law she should be older than 35 years to make decisions on the bride price.
