ABSTRACT
The mythical haven of the nuclear family plays an important role in many societies; this unit, characterized by a legally married adult man and woman accompanied by children, floats in a separate, "private" sphere informed by religion, culture, and tradition, free from governmental interference. Marriage payments were originally intended as a source of economic security for women in case of divorce or other emergency, as they were generally intended to be held for the woman's use upon dissolution of the marriage. Women lose custody of their children altogether when the boys are seven and girls are nine, or when boys reach puberty or girls reach a marriageable age. Married women are doubly jeopardized in property ownership rights. Under customary law all the property acquired by the spouses, except personal goods, belong to the husband who is entitled to retain all of it at the dissolution of the marriage.
