In the resource-poor environment of rural Ethiopia parents act strategically when they marry off their sons and daughters. Laws regarding the control and ownership of assets within households in poor countries are characterised by a complex mix of state and customary legal systems. Research in Ethiopia by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Centre for the Study of African Economies, and Addis Ababa University proved particularly fertile given the wide diversity of cultures, patrimonial traditions and male attitudes on the status of women.
Rules regarding divorce and inheritance vary dramatically.
Marriage contracts vary systematically with ethnicity and religion with a lot of variation around the local norm. Less than 10 percent of all rural marriages are formally contracted by church or state. Marriages are arranged by parents. Two thirds of respondents in the survey had never spoken to their spouse prior to marriage. Although the Ethiopian state nominally owns all land, land is, nevertheless, the most valuable asset brought to marriage.