India has an alarming trend that sees 20 women die every day as a result of harassment over a dowry – either murdered, or compelled to commit suicide. National Crime Bureau of India, as recently as 2017, recorded nearly 7000 dowry linked deaths a year. Dowry deaths rose from about 19 per day in 2001 to 21 per day in 2016. And we are yet talking about reported dowry deaths here. There are many that go unreported. Taking or giving dowry has been criminalised by law as early as 1961. But, it is still a significant part of Indian marriage and is openly defying laws and failing women empowerment.
According to NCRB reports on an average, every hour a woman succumbs to dowry deaths in India with the annual figure rising upwards of 7000. No matter how many PhDs a woman earns, her identity and the right to live is decided according to the kilos of gold, cash, latest vehicles and appliances she brings in dowry for her in-laws.
In India traditional marriages, the dowry system, perpetuates the concept of the girl’s parents giving gold, money, cars, homes and other material goods to the boy’s family for ‘taking care’ of their daughter. It reinforces the ‘belief’, that Indian society has long perpetuated, that girls and women are a burden on society. This in turn reduces a girl’s value to the money and material goods she brings to her wedded house.
For centuries, this has been a system actively follow. It’s also projects the boy and his family as superior to the girl’s and the girl’s parents are ‘expected’ to service the boy’s family with special treatment. The amount of dowry often becomes an issue of contention between the two families, and eventually leads to pressure on the girls who either suffer the marriage or kill themselves.
Not just rural India…
The brutal reality of the dowry system is not the story of rural areas only. Even the educated family sitting in metropolitan cities like Delhi and Bangalore is harassing a woman for not bringing enough gold or money. Not more than 16 days of the year 2020 had passed, Bengaluru, the silicon valley of India, reported 17 cases of abuse and death of women for dowry as mentioned in The New Indian Express. Going by this 2020 could be the worst for the plight of women due to dowry system, when is the end?
What’s this dowry system all about?
Dowry system makes it necessary for a bride’s family to give dowry in cash or kind to the groom’s family as a pre-condition for marriage. After marriage, some families demand more dowry and when it is not fulfilled- either because of the inability of the bride’s family or the denial of the bride herself- the groom and his family abuse and kill the bride. In one of the cases reported in Bengaluru in January 2020, a few weeks after marriage, a husband demanded cash despite receiving 1kg gold in dowry as per his demands. When the extra demand was denied, he burnt his wife.
In some cases, to escape the punishment by law, the husband and his family do not kill the woman directly but harass her mentally and physically forcing her to commit suicide. A similar case was reported in Kerala last year when a 27-year-old woman was starved to death by her in-laws because their demand of two lakhs in dowry was not met.
Why The Dowry System Is Still Prevalent
We are in 2021. Dowry system was abolished in 1961 in India. The reason for the prevalence of this custom is the patriarchal society that values men over women. In India boys have a rate card in many societies. This is the unofficial price the boy is worth. And that worth is measured by the amount of dowry a boy will get upon marriage. The stronghold of the gender inequality in Indian society makes a bride’s family feel obliged to meet the dowry demands of the man who has ‘agreed’ to take care of the daughter. The second major reason is that the dowry system is too deeply rooted in the Indian culture that it is seen as normal and unchangeable. Even today, if people are reminded that dowry is a crime, they ignore it as an alternate reality which cannot change the age-old customs. Many educated families practice it, willingly or unwillingly, to avoid being criticized for not following the customs. After all who will dare to change the traditions? The third and most important reason is the dominance of the institution of marriage. A woman’s marriage is of the paramount importance in Indian families. If a woman’s marriage requires dowry in return of her secured married life which is a challenge in the world that is unsafe and discriminatory for women, it is never seen as a crime.
Dowry deaths are a result of this stagnancy in the traditions and cultures. Groom’s families take advantage of the stronghold of the dowry system which will ultimately bring them wealth. Often they ‘rightfully’ abandon or abuse the woman for dowry because she and her family did not fulfil their duty. This is a harsh reality that still haunts the lives of the women who are moving ahead towards a respectable, empowered and independent future. This system is the major reason why daughters are considered as a burden for the families. Consequently, families either keep the wealth aside for the daughter’s dowry rather than investing in her education or kill her before birth to get rid of the burden forever.
Dowry system gets an open passage in the society despite being a crime because no one dares to take legal action against the families.
Causes of Dowry System in India
- High Illiteracy among girls and women: According to 2011 census bureau, literacy rate in India was 74.04% but it is still a matter of concern that so many millions of people in India cannot even read and write.
- The female literacy levels according to the 2011 census are 65.46% as compared to male literacy rate which is above 80%.
- Age-old tradition: People now resort to old customs to take dowry and tell the girl to the old tradition that you have to give dowry.
- Male-dominated society: Due to being a male-dominated society in India, women have no right to talk about themselves due to which women are exploited for dowry, they are tortured mentally and physically.
- Dowry value - subject of respect: At present, people have made a dowry subject to their respected honor, the more the dowry gets, the people respect it as much, which is leading to the promotion of dowry.
- Unemployment: It is also a major reason for the practice of dowry, because when the proposal comes for marriage of unemployed youths, then they say that to help you start your business.
- Poverty and Child marriage: Dowry has correlation to the age of the girl because in some tribes of India, late marriages can cause the bride family heavy toll in dowry payment.
- Poverty in India is also cited as a cause of early marriages because some poor families of girls are forced to choose child marriages as a way out of desperate economic conditions and to reduce the expenses.
- Lack of compliance towards dowry laws: The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 also known as Sarda Act and The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 address child marriage issue but some people don’t heed to the laws.
Impact of Dowry System
- Domestic violence against women: A few greedy families harass married women to bring more dowry or in case of failure to meet dowry demands.
- Financial burden: The bride’s family starts collecting goods and saving money for dowry on her marriage from the day she takes birth.
- In many cases, her parents have to take borrow money from relatives and friends, a loan from the bank, and even sell their property for doing just her marriage.
- Waste of money: People don’t spend money as much money on their child’s education and career as they spend on dowry and marriage expenses.
- Encourage to gender discrimination and female foeticide: Dowry culture also encourages female foeticide due to gender inequality and most families can’t afford wedding expenses.
- Lowers the status of women and damages her dignity: The prevalence of the custom of dowry reflects upon the inferior status of women in society.
- In her own natal home, a girl is considered to be liability and a drain on the family resources.
- Dowry leading to Immorality: The practice of dowry is not only regarded as unlawful but even as immoral.
- According to Gandhi Ji, one who makes dowry as a pre- condition of his marriage, not only shows disrespect to a woman but also humiliates his own nation, education and womanhood.
Measures to be adopted to end dowry system
- Increase presence of women in the workforce: Women should be supported to take up jobs and have independent incomes.
- It can be done by expanding childcare and safe public transport, reduce discrimination in hiring, and create affirming workplace environments.
- Compilation of gender-disaggregated data across the life cycle: It aims to address gender inequality by looking at gender-disaggregated data such as birth, early childhood, education, nutrition, livelihood, access to healthcare, etc.
- Proper screening of gender laws: It should be screened to remove gender bias, replacing words like “manpower” with gender-neutral equivalents.
- Zero tolerance towards domestic violence: The families should store evidence and report at once, instead of sending battered women back fearing “what society will say”.
- The support systems must be expanded to help victims with shelter, counselling, legal follow up, and livelihood support when required.
- Stringent laws against dowry practice: The government should try to stop this practice by making strict laws against the practice of dowry.
Road ahead
- Marriage registration protects women’s rights: With over two and a half lakh gram panchayats in rural India, if registration is decentralised to panchayat secretaries, it will be accessible to rural families.
- People will be able to register marriages easily and families can spend less.
- Financial support from self-help groups (SHGs): Millions of women’s self-help groups in India have been a quiet force for financial support in times of stress.
- Women’s self-help groups should be systematically oriented about violence against women and the existence of local support systems.
- Women’s self-help groups can play a powerful role in building a more equal society by actively spreading awareness and displaying solidarity.
- Spreading social awareness against dowry practice: It is necessary to raise awareness in the society against dowry system as people's thinking has fallen so that they do not think anything other than dowry.
- Every school should have such programs and dramas through which the day can be explained that the boy and the girl are equal, they should not discriminate in any way and taking dowry and giving both are punishable.
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