Debates on Dowry System

What is Dowry?

Dowry can be termed as the movement of goods - in the forms of money, property and other physical assets - from the bride's family, at the time of marriage, to the groom or the groom's family. Dowry can be issued for multiple reasons, which have varied across time and geographical locations. Further, dowry is distinguished from associated social traditions such as bride-wealth and dower. Bride-wealth can be described as goods given by the groom, or his kin, to the kin of the bride whereas, dower is an exclusive gift, by the groom, to his bride, which can only be used by her. A prevalent social practice, dowry has existed for centuries and is practiced to date in India, Northern Africa and other South East Asian nations. Historically, dowry was a prominent practice that ranged all across the surface of the earth, which included Greece, China, England, India, Mexico and numerous other South East Asian, African and Eastern European nations.

Debates on the different theories

This system of dowry dates back centuries and even originates in many different and divergent civilizations across the world. Although the concept of dowry is easy to grasp, its applications in society vary depending on time, geographical location and the position of women in society, among other factors. Due to the vast application of this tradition, there are many debates on this topic. Below are the contrasting thoughts and positions taken on the idea of this 'System of Dowry'.

The Inheritance Debate

One of the prominent debates on dowry and its roots is focused on the inheritance aspect. Dowry, given at the time of marriage, to the daughter by her own parents is a method of dividing or providing a share of inheritance to the daughter not upon death of the parents, but upon the daughter's marriage. This debate argues that dowry is not actually given to the groom or his kin, but to the daughter by her own parents. This allows women to take their share of inheritance into their marriage, with which they can choose what to do. A common claim associated with this debate is that the bride's parents allocate their daughter's inheritance to her at the time of marriage, so that her children will also have some form of inheritance from their grandchildren.

The Prestige Debate

Another prominent debate that occupies a large portion of this discussion of the different thoughts on the dowry system is the one concerned with 'prestige' and 'social upward movement'. Application of such a debate is not too prevalent in the world we live in today. This debate this thrives on stratified societies with distinct class and hierarchal systems which dominate a society; such as pre-industrial Europe. In such societies, where important status differences are well-established, dowry can be used to marry or ally the bride into a household of higher social standing, raising the status of the bride and her household as well. This is therefore seen as a mere payment to the groom's family in return for inclusion of the bride and her household into the husband's family and social standing. Acting as a means to validate one's social status through the display and gifting of wealth, dowry was an important aspect in highly stratified societies.

The Economic Burden Debate

Although existing, largely irrelevant today, this debate has applications in largely agrarian societies in rural parts of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other South East Asian countries. This debate argues that dowry, essentially, is a form of compensation paid by the bride's family to that of the groom's in taking added economic burden on themselves. This debate largely rests on the premise that women are not going to be providing any economic aid to the household and, therefore, automatically, are an economic burden on the household itself. By taking "a daughter off one's hands' ", the bride's family stands to gain, economically, while the groom's has to endure larger burden, so, to counter it, compensation needs to be paid.

The Gender Oppression Debate

The most prevalent debate associated with dowry is the one related to the oppression of women. The amounts of giving dowry are largely associated with the age of the bride. Younger brides tends to require less amounts of dowry than women of an older age. For economically troubled families, especially in rural parts of countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, this can pose to be a drastic problem. To families which cannot afford to pay large sums of dowry, they must marry their daughter's off at younger ages, thus denying them the opportunity to acquire an education, even at high school levels, on many occasions. Education, which plays a massive role in not only future prospects but even empowerment is denied to many female children who are forced to marry at younger ages. Additionally, on many occasions, huge amounts of dowry can be demanded in return for the marriage to take place. On multiple instances, when dowry is lesser than demanded or even unable to be paid, the bride's tend to bear the brunt of the punishment. Verbal abuse, physical violence and even death at the hand's of the groom or the groom's family has become an increasingly common aspect of rural societies in the Indian Peninsular countries. At the behest of this gender oppression is one crucial 'social evil' that pervades rural society, that of the dowry system.

Dowry related murder

"Femicide" is simply referring to the gender-related killing of women and girls, which, looks to take into consideration, the realities of gender-associated inequalities oppression. The term 'dowry deaths' has been established to refer to deaths that are associated with dowry, and are a common type of 'femicide'. It can be argued that the system of dowry, still prevalent in societies all across the world, is, now, a well established system of oppression, pressure, economic burden and torture for the bride and her family. As dowry becomes a means of income for the groom's family, they can tend to become reliant on it. On many occasions, the bride's family is unable to pay the full amount, or cannot afford to pay more of the dowry, which causes the bride to be of lesser value to the groom. Upon such circumstances, the groom's family employ physical abuse, hoping to use it as a coercive means of attaining greater dowry or even separation from the bride's family. In rare circumstances, bride's are forced to commit suicide and, on occasions, are even killed. Citing an Indian report, which evidently shows the progression in the 'dowry death's' over time, states that in 1982, 2006, 2009 and 2011; 392, 7618, 8383 and 8618 cases, respectively, related to 'dowry deaths' were registered with the police.

References

1. Harrell, Stevan, and Sara A. Dickey. "Dowry Systems in Complex Societies." Ethnology, vol. 24, no. 2, 1985, pp. 105-120.

2. Schlegel, Alice, and Rohn Eloul. "Marriage Transactions: Labor, Property, Status." American Anthropologist, vol. 90, no. 2, 1988, pp. 291.

3. Femicide: Targeting of Women in Conflict: a Global Issue That Demands Action. Academic Council on the United Nations System, 2015.

4. Divale, William T., and Marvin Harris. "Population, Warfare, and the Male Supremacist Complex." American Anthropologist, vol. 78, no. 3, 1976, pp. 521-538.

5. Jayachandran, Seema. “The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries.”Northwestern University, Nov. 2014.

6. Baig, Reshma Ahamed, and A. Ramegowda Gowda. “Dowry - The Cancer of Society.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2384011.

7. Majumdar, Rochona. "Understanding Marriage Dowry." History Compass, vol. 2, no. 1, 2004, pp. *-*.

8. Rudd, Jane. "Dowry-Murder: An Example of Violence Against Women." Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 24, no. 5, 2001, pp. 513-522.