The dower: marriage, gender and social stratification.

When I was in Al-Balad in 1981 one of Imm Sālim's granddaughters, Hanān was married. The first time I talked to her the marriage contract had already been signed and with pride she showed me the gifts she had received at the engagement party from Mis'ad, her fiancé. Hanān was pleased with the marriage. Mis'ad was no stranger to her, on the contrary, she had known him all her life. He was not only from the same lineage, but his mother also was her father's sister, while his late father had been her mother's brother. He was only a few years older – she was eighteen at the time, he twenty-two – and had for some years been working in oil production in Kuwait, a job he had found through another brother of his mother who held a good position there for the past twenty-five years. Mis'ad's mother had been the driving force behind the marriage. A widow with only one son (and three younger daughters) she was very attached to him and counted on his support in the future. Therefore, she had carefully selected her future daughter-in-law. Looking for a girl both her son and she herself would get along with, Hanān seemed suitable. Tall and with a light complexion she fit the local standards of beauty, Imm Mis'ad also knew her as compliant and, of course, she was her brother's daughter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]