Episode 03: Not Your Average Bride Price Not Your Average Mai Podcast

The controversial bride price has always been a relevant and hot topic for discussion in the Hmong American community (yes, even among our millennial generation!). By practice, the bride price is the amount of money that a groom’s family pays to a bride’s family to marry their Hmong daughter. Traditionally, it was seen as compensation to the bride’s family for the loss of their daughter’s labor. In this episode, we discuss the cultural shifts in how the bride price has been practiced and the value of the bride price (or lack thereof) in modern day society. In a culture that has traditionally treated women less than equal, we share how we resist against patriarchy and what it means to truly reach gender equity for Hmong American women and men, beyond the bride price.