Dowry Culture and Status of Women in our Society – An Empirical Analysis

09/09/2016

 Madhumita Chakraborty*

Dowry is a well-known culture of our society today and probably it became a custom at the beginning of the 18th century. In Indian society now women marriage is conducted with a promising dowry gifted by the parents in the form of money, goods, estate, etc. so that a girl can enjoy her life in her spouse’s house with full comfort. But, the fact is quite different. Parents are forced to arrange dowry at the period of marriage to maintain their social prestige. This ruthless practise of dowry prohibited in 1961 by laws and subsequently by Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. In the Dowry prohibition Act, 1984 dowry is defined as any property or valuable security given or agreed to be either directly or indirectly. But the implication of Acts are still in the deep of the cave if we just look upon the newspaper every day, there must be an incident taken place centralised with dowry. Naturally, it has been very clear from the fact that women in our society possess very poor status though the society has culturally moved forward.
History of dowry culture and societal position of women:

The root of dowry was founded in pre-colonial era, before the British rule but their dissimilar nature has been prevalent today. At that time there had been the trend of dowries in that society for the bride it the form of valuable gifts. Parents provided dowry to their daughters for economical support as they made the similar economic assistance for their sons from their wealth. Beside this, a competition for potential bride grooms through several contests like ‘swayamvar’ was usually arranged so that they could select their preferred one whom she would marry. Hence, this matter symbolizes the high social status of women in our society. Such a great respect was provided to the women that they were compared with earth, nature, nation, knowledge, wealth, power, energy, etc.

In ancient India women had the property inheritance right which would transfer at the time of her marriage as ‘bride wealth’ to her but there persisted no right for their in laws and bride groom. In fact in the earlier days of the British Rule in 1792 a European writer praised about the status of women as well as liberty enjoyed by the women which they desired. In fact in the beginning of 20th century the value of women raised to such a position that the grooms were needed to spend money to marry a girl, consequently poor boys were likely to found unmarried that time. In the Colonial Period British East India Company opposed the property right for the women which also reflected in the Indian Rule. In it, all the valuable properties gifted to the bride during her marriage suddenly became a right for their husband and their families; hence traditional form of dowry was changed and gave birth to a society full of greed which started harassing and suppressing the women and as a result they tend to die.
Present state of dowry and its relation with status of women:

With the abolishment of property right of women during British period gradually noticed an uprising trend of dowry practice and in turn of 21st century it became dangerous and moreover it threatened the cultured society. According to the National Crime Records Bureau Report 2011 (Ministry of Home Affairs) there were 8618 dowry related deaths with a conviction rate of 35.81. Cruelty by husband and relative cases were reported 99135 with a conviction rate of 20.21.

The 2011 data revealed that in every five minutes there was a case due to the involvement of the husband and their families and every 61 minutes had witnessed the evidence of one dowry related death. In every 79 minutes one case had been registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act (DPA). Dowry related deaths are gradually increased and it reached 8455 in 2014 and ultimately in 2016 reported cases were found 7621. Though it decreased in 2016 but still it happens randomly. Give and take dowry at the period of marriage is punishable offence and the punishment should be six months to 2 years of imprisonment with a fine of rupees 10,000 or it has been determined based on amount of dowry.

So, dowries are now becoming the hidden practise of Indian Society due to increasing demands or desires. It has always been associated with violence on the bride by the active participation of the groom himself and his relatives as it is the easiest way to become richer. More and more greed and fulfilment of the expectations of the groom’s family the brides are mentally and physically get abused. And sometimes the women take suicidal attempt due to rising torture and humiliation. On the other hand, the parents of the groom try to compensate the value of dowries which they spent in their daughter’s wedding. Affordability of a father nowadays determines the quality of groom he can buy for his daughter. Sometimes poor parents dream for their daughter’s happiness and try to reach beyond their limit to afford all their savings. It encourages the tendency of blackmailing the bride’s parents even after marriage. Parents are now getting afraid of the birth of a girl child.  They refuses to bear the huge expense for health care and education for girl child, hence she is being neglected. Even the evil effects of dowry provoke the parents to go for sex determination of the featus, though this practice has been restricted by PCPNDT ACT, 1994 (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. The 2011 data revealed that there in India child sex ratio (0-6 age group of population) had fallen to 914 from 964 in 1971. Actually, in our patriarchal society the culprits of low sex ratio or the missing of the girl child are female foeticide, gender discrimination, son preference which originated through suppressing the women by different ways. Sometimes mothers are also obsessed regarding the birth of a male child so that she can achieve high status in her family.
Conclusion:

In concluding remarks it can be said that the female plays the most vital role of our society who bears the delivery pain to sustain our society. Increasing literacy and implementation of the acts to protect our women can endure their survival. Government of India had launched a bunch of projects to save the girl child such as Balika Samriddhi Yojana in 1997, Dhan Laxmi Scheme in 2008, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana in 2015, National Plan of Action in 1992, Sukanya Samriddhi Account in 2015. Beside these, West Bengal Government also launched Kanyashree project in 8th March, 2013 to spread helping hand towards the girl child. Media should play a vital role to influence the public opinion as the boy and the girl child are equally important for our society. Lastly, the unlawful, heinous practise like dowry must be stopped in our society so that peaceful co-existence of peoples can transform our society for economic development.

References
  • Chandna R.C. : Geography of Population. Ninth edition (2010) Kalyani Publishers.
  • Johnston R.J. (ed) 2005: The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th Edition, Black well Publishing.
  • Khatun S, Islam A. ‘Death before Birth’: A study on Female Foeticide in India.
  • Bhende, Asha A. & Kanitkar, Tara. : Principles of Population Studies. Himalaya Publishing House, Nineteenth Edition,2008.
  • Das, Arpita & Chattopadhyay, Aparajita,: Women’s status in West Bengal and Bangladesh: A Cross Country Analysis.
  • Dowry Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org>wiki>Dowry.
  • Dowry- Tradition or Curse? World Pulse. https://www.worldpulse.com>users>posts.
  • Dowry in Bengal- Countercurrents. https://www.countercurrents.org>gen-b...
  • Chatterjee S.: Concept and Evolution of Dowry.
  • Dowry – New World Encyclopedia. www.newworldencyclopedia.org>entry


*Student, 2004
Assistant Teacher, Dhakuria Sri Ram Roy Institution

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