> "I can assure you that marrying a man who can afford to feed and house you is better than marrying a man who can't afford that"

It is nice to see that the open secret being spoked out aloud. It is the basis for the counter argument by MRA that instead of bias against women, it is different incentives for men and women that is driving men to get money and power in disproportional amount. This then lead to stereotyping and sexism where a large portion of society assume and even associate those desire with male gender, and they judge male worth and social status based on it.

> They envied me the fact that I had been home with my kids.

From a social status perspective I am not surprised. I would hazard a guess that if you instead told them how you worked for months on a oil rig for a heavy pay check while the kids were young it would generate a very different response. The difference in how social status is gained and maintained is significant for men and for women.

To then go to actual solutions, developed countries does not have a significant different view on social status and gender roles. The gender expectations if anything has an even large impact if we look at places like Sweden, often called the Gender-equality paradox. Bride price does not exist in developed countries simply because children there are not expected to support the parent. There is multiple ways for men to signal wealth so that aspect of bridge price is resolves through other means such as expensive ring, clothing, cars, restaurant dinners and other social status signals. In order to eradicate the practice of bride price you have to distance the dependency that parents has on children when they grow old, and how important a large family is for survival and success.