Considering bridewealth in Melanesia from the angle of women's autonomy, in this introduction we review and analyse the various elements of this marriage practice that reveal its place in the symbolic, social and economic worlds of women. With an accent on social transformation, we discuss women's autonomy and agency in relation to the constraints that bridewealth puts on their lives, and on how they engage with it. Knowing what bridewealth is, and how the rules of reciprocity that it indexes obligate married women, the focus is on women's ability to act within these constraints or to redefine their contours, particularly with regards to economic and reproductive agency. The article, which serves also as the introduction for the special issue on bridewealth in the journal Oceania, discusses themes analysed in the collection, such as the moral prospects of bridewealth today, its relation to ‘capital’ in twenty‐first century Oceania, the triad value/valuables/valuers, and the empowerment of women. It concludes with thoughts on gender inequality.

中文翻译：

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Bridewealth1与美拉尼西亚妇女的自治

从妇女自治的角度考虑美拉尼西亚的新娘财富，在本引言中，我们回顾并分析了这种婚姻习俗的各种要素，揭示了其在妇女象征性，社会和经济领域中的地位。我们着重强调社会转型，讨​​论妇女的自主权和代理权，这与新娘财富对她们的生活产生的制约以及她们如何与她们互动有关。知道什么是新娘财富，以及新娘的互惠规则如何使已婚妇女有义务，重点是妇女在这些约束条件下采取行动或重新定义其轮廓的能力，特别是在经济和生殖机构方面。这篇文章，同时也是《大洋洲》杂志有关新娘财富的特刊的引言，讨论了馆藏中分析的主题，例如今天的新娘富裕的道德前景，其与二十一世纪大洋洲与“资本”的关系，三合会价值/贵重物品/估价师以及赋予妇女权力。最后总结了有关性别不平等的思想。