Definitions
Dowry is an asset provided by a father or guardian to a daughter during her marriage; on the other hand, bride price is an amount of money or property or an asset provided by the family of the groom to the family of the bride during the marriage.
The tradition of dower (meher) is very different from dowry or bride price – in meher, a husband is supposed to provide an amount of money or asset to a wife, which is a token of respect as well as social security during the dissolution of marriage (Singh 2010).
Introduction
A Global Perspective of the Gender Distribution of Wealth
Dowry was considered a social security to women during a post-marriage crisis such as alienation by a husband or another marital conflict (Goody 1976). Similarly, the bride price is still prevalent in many indigenous cultures (Anderson et al. 2018). However, in Muslim marriages, dowry is also in practice along with meher, whereas meher is just a social formality. Dowry custom is prevalent across the...
References
Abeyratne R, Jain D (2012) Domestic violence legislation in India: the pitfalls of a human rights approach to gender equality. Am Univ J Gend Soc Pol Law 21(2):333–378
Adam BD (1978) The survival of domination: inferiorization and everyday life. Elsevier, New York
Agnes F (2015) Section 498A, Marital rape and adverse propaganda. Econ Polit Wkly 1(23):12–15
Ahamad T, Mishra AK (2016) Legal status and rights of women in the Indian constitution. Int J Adv Res Dev 1(1):30–33
Amin S, Al-Bassusi NH (2004) Education, wage work, and marriage: perspectives of Egyptian working women. J Marriage Fam 66(5):1287–1299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00093.x. Wiley
Anand K (2014) Here’s how this became India’s first 100% Dowry-Free Village. https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/from-almost-going-bankrupt-due-to-dowry-heres-how-nilambur-became-indias-first-100-dowryfree-village-228397.html. Accessed 28 Mar 2019
Anderson S (2003) Why dowry payments declined with modernization in Europe but are rising in India. J Polit Econ 111(2):269–310. https://doi.org/10.1086/367679. The University of Chicago Press
Anderson S, Beaman L, Platteau J-P (eds) (2018) Towards gender equity in development. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198829591.001.0001
Babu GR, Babu BV (2011) Dowry deaths: a neglected public health issue in India. Int Health 3(1):35–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inhe.2010.12.002. Oxford University Press
Babu BV, Kar SK (2009) Domestic violence against women in eastern India: a population-based study on prevalence and related issues. BMC Public Health 9(1):129. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-129
Bader C (2013) Women in ancient India: moral and literary studies. Routledge, London
Basu S (2016) Looking through misogyny: Indian Men’s Rights Activists, law, and challenges for feminism. Can J Women Law 28(1):45–68. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.28.1.45. University of Toronto Press
BBC (2011) Tajik weddings hit by austerity law. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13065495. Accessed 22 May 2019
Bhalotra S, Chakravarty A, Gulesci S (2018) Dowry and death in India. London. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12712. Accessed 28 Mar 2019
Bhattacharya S, Singh A (2016) Changing strategies of female foeticide in India: a never-ending story. Int J Community Med Public Health 3(9):2672–2676. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20163094.
Biao X (2005) Gender, dowry and the migration system of Indian Information Technology professionals. Indian J Gend Stud 12(2–3):357–380. https://doi.org/10.1177/097152150501200209. SAGE, New Delhi
Brown PH (2009) Dowry and intrahousehold bargaining. J Hum Resour 44(1):25–46. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.44.1.25. University of Wisconsin Press
Caplan L (1984) Bridegroom price in urban India: class, caste and ‘dowry evil’ among Christians in Madras. Man 19(2):216. https://doi.org/10.2307/2802278
Carr D (2004) Gender, preloss marital dependence, and older adults’ adjustment to widowhood. J Marriage Fam 66(1):220–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00016.x. Wiley
Chander S, Kathpalia J, Kumari V (2018) Socio-economic factors affecting the problem of dowry among rural women of Haryana. Indian J Health Well Being 9(5):789–792
Comaroff JL, Roberts S (1986) Rules and processes: the cultural logic of dispute in an African context. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Correll SJ (2004) Constraints into preferences: gender, status, and emerging career aspirations. Am Sociol Rev 69(1):93–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900106. SAGE, Los Angeles, CA
Dasgupta S, Basu J (2011) Marital quality and gender role stereotype. Psychol Stud 56(4):360–367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-011-0105-y. Springer
Deere CD, Doss CR (2006) Gender and the distribution of wealth in developing countries. The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/63540
Deininger K, Goyal A, Nagarajan H (2013) Women’s inheritance rights and intergenerational transmission of resources in India. J Hum Resour 48(1):114–141. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.48.1.114. University of Wisconsin Press
Deogaonkar SG, Deogaonkar SS (2002) Native Americans and native Indians. Concept Publication Company, New Delhi
Diwan P, Diwan P (1997) Law relating to dowry, dowry deaths, bride burning, rape, and related offences. Universal Law Publication, New Delhi
Dubbudu R (2017) Conviction rate of Sec 498-A cases is among the lowest of all IPC crimes. https://factly.in/conviction-rate-for-cases-registered-under-sec-498a-ipc-is-among-the-lowest-for-all-ipc-crimes/. Accessed 26 Mar 2019
Esteve-Volart B (2004) Gender discrimination and growth: theory and evidence from India. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1127011. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Ferraro G, Andreatta S (2011) Cultural anthropology: an applied perspective. Nelson Foundation. Wadsworth Publishing, California (USA)
Figes E (1970) Patriarchal attitudes: women in society. Macmillan, London
Gaganpreet K, Sukhdev S (2013) Causes and consequences of dowry in Indian society-an overview. Indian J Econ Dev 8(3):75–82. Sdu Uitgevers
Garg S, Nath A (2008) Female feticide in India: issues and concerns. J Postgrad Med 54(4):276–279. Medknow Publications
Ghorayshi P (1996) Women in developing countries: methodological and theoretical considerations. Women Polit 16(3):89–111
Ghosh B, Choudhuri T (2011) Legal protection against domestic violence in India: scope and limitations. J Fam Violence 26(4):319–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-011-9369-1. Springer US
Goody J (1976) Production and reproduction : a comparative study of the domestic domain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Greenstein TN (2000) Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home: a replication and extension. J Marriage Fam 62(2):322–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00322.x. Wiley
Gulzar S et al (2012) Dowry system in Pakistan. Asian Econ Financ Rev 2(7):784–794. http://aessweb.com/journal-detail.php?id=5002. Accessed 25 May 2019
Gupta R et al (2018) Effectiveness of India’s National Programme to save the girl child: experience of Beti Bachao Beti Padao (B3P) program from Haryana State. Health Policy Plan 33(7):870–876. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czy065. Narnia
Harrell S, Dickey SA (1985) Dowry systems in complex societies. Ethnology 24(2):105. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773553. University of Pittsburgh- of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
Harris BJ (1993) A new look at the reformation: Aristocratic women and Nunneries, 1450–1540. J Br Stud 32(2):89–113. https://doi.org/10.1086/386024. Cambridge University Press
Harrison CK et al (2009) The role of gender identities and stereotype salience with the academic performance of male and female college athletes. J Sport Soc Issues 33(1):78–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723508328902
Huda S (2006) Dowry in Bangladesh: compromising women’s rights. South Asia Res 26(3):249–268. https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728006071707
Jeffery P (2014) Supply-and-demand demographics: dowry, daughter aversion and marriage markets in contemporary north India. Contemp South Asia 22(2):171–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.899982. Routledge
Jianu A (2009) Women, dowries, and patrimonial law in old regime Romania (c. 1750–1830). J Fam Hist 34(2):189–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363199008330732
Johnson PS, Johnson JA (2001) The oppression of women in India. Violence Against Women 7(9):1051–1068. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778010122182893
Jones GW (1997) The continuing demographic transition. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Jutla RK, Heimbach D (2004) Love burns: an essay about bride burning in India. J Burn Care Rehabil 25(2):165–170. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.BCR.0000111929.70876.1F. Oxford University Press
Khan S (2000) Inheritance of Indian women: a perspective on JSTOR. India Int Centre Q 27(2):139–154
Kodoth P (2008) Gender, caste, and matchmaking in Kerala: a rationale for dowry. Dev Chang 39(2):263–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00479.x. Wiley
Kumar A (2012) Domestic violence against men in India: a perspective. J Hum Behav Soc Environ 22(3):290–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2012.655988
Kumar V, Kanth S (2004) Bride burning. Lancet 364:18–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17625-3. Elsevier
Makino M (2018) Marriage, dowry, and women’s status in rural Punjab, Pakistan. J Popul Econ 32:1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-018-0713-0.. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg
Mangan JE (2005) Trading roles: gender, ethnicity, and the urban economy in colonial PotosÃ. Duke University Press
Maslow AH (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psychol Rev 50(4):370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346
Mir-Hosseini Z (2000) Marriage on trial: Islamic family law in Iran and Morocco. I.B. Tauris. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/marriage-on-trial-9781860646089/. Accessed 22 May 2019
Muzamil J, Farhat J (2016) Causes of female foeticide among males and females in Kashmir Valley. Int J Res Soc Sci 6(5):639–650
Nigam C (2017) 21 lives lost to dowry every day across India; conviction rate less than 35 percent. Mail Today News. https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/dowry-deaths-national-crime-records-bureau-conviction-rate-972874-2017-04-22. Accessed 13 Mar 2019
Olga ST-S (1993) Village life in late tsarist Russia. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34987335?selectedversion=NBD9201082 Accessed 22 May 2019
Pande R (2003) Selective gender differences in childhood nutrition and immunization in rural India: the role of siblings. Demography 40(3):395–418. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2003.0029. Springer
Paudel GS (2007) Domestic violence against women in Nepal. Gend Technol Dev 11(2):199–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/097185240701100204
Pieris I, Caldwell B (1997) Gender and health in Sri Lanka. Health Transit Rev 7:171–185
Randeria S, Visaria L (1984) No title. Econ Polit Wkly 19(15):648–652
Rankin KN (2003) Cultures of economies: gender and socio-spatial change in Nepal. Gend Place Cult 10(2):111–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369032000079514.. Taylor & Francis Group
Rao V (2007) The economics of dowries in India. Oxford University Press, London
Raymond JG (1994) Women as wombs: reproductive technologies and the battle over women’s freedom. Spinifex Press, Melbourne
Riley N (1997) Gender power and population change. Popul Bull 52(1):1–48. https://www.popline.org/node/267968 Accessed 27 May 2019
Rocca CH et al (2009) Challenging assumptions about women’s empowerment: social and economic resources and domestic violence among young married women in urban South India. Int J Epidemiol 38(2):577–585. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyn226. Narnia
Rofe Y (1984) Stress and affiliation: a utility theory. Psychol Rev 91(2):235–250. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.91.2.235
Sachdeva DDR (1998) Social welfare administration in India. Kitab Mahal, Allahabad
Sachs JD (2012) From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. Lancet (London, England) 379(9832):2206–2211. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60685-0. Elsevier
Sallan Gül S (2013) The role of the state in protecting women against domestic violence and women’s shelters in Turkey. Women’s Stud Int Forum 38:107–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WSIF.2013.01.018. Pergamon
Samli SA (2011) Containing the future: modern identities as material negotiation in the urban Turkish Ceyiz. Rice University, Houston
Sanghavi P, Bhalla K, Das V (2009) Fire-related deaths in India in 2001: a retrospective analysis of data. Lancet 373(9671):1282–1288. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60235-X. Elsevier
Sapkota JB et al (2019) Preference for sex of children among women in Nepal. Global Soc Welf 6(2):69–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-018-0117-9. Springer International Publishing
Saravanan S (2002) Female infanticide in India: a review of literature. Social Change 32(1–2):58–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/004908570203200205. SAGE, New Delhi
Satvir Singh and Ors vs. the State of Punjab and Anr on 27 September 2001 (2001). https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1521945/. Accessed 13 Mar 2019
Sengar S (2018) This woman is fighting for the rights of men implicated in false dowry cases by their wives. Indiatimes.com. https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/this-woman-is-fighting-for-the-rights-of-men-implicated-in-false-dowry-cases-by-their-wives-349261.html. Accessed 26 Mar 2019
Shenk MK (2007) Dowry and public policy in contemporary India. Hum Nat 18(3):242–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-007-9006-0. Springer US
Shetty BSK, Rao JP, Shetty AS (2012) Legal terrorism in domestic violence. An Indian Outlook. Med Leg J 80:33
Singh RK (2010) Law of dower (Mahr) in India. J Islam Law Cult 12(1):58–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528817X.2010.528594. Routledge
Singh S (2018a) Violence on women and the constitutional safeguards with remedies in India. Int J Res Anal Rev 5(3):317a–323a. http://ijrar.com/. Accessed: 26 Mar 2019
Singh Y (2018b) Dowry deaths account for 40–50% of female homicides in India: report. Rediff.com India News. https://www.rediff.com/news/report/dowry-deaths-account-for-40-50-of-female-homicides-in-india-report/20181127.htm. Accessed 13 Mar 2019
Soneja S (2011) Elder abuse in India: country report for the World Health Organization. New Delhi. https://www.who.int/ageing/projects/elder_abuse/alc_ea_ind.pdf. Accessed 26 Mar 2019
Sperling J (2004) Marriage at the time of the Council of Trent (1560–70): Clandestine marriages, kinship prohibitions, and dowry exchange in European Comparison. J Early Mod Hist. Brill 8(1):67–108. https://doi.org/10.1163/1570065041268951
Srinivasan (1984) Some reflections on dowry. Oxford University Press, New Delhi
Srinivasan P, Lee GR (2004) The dowry system in northern India: women’s attitudes and social change. J Marriage Fam 66(5):1108–1117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00081.x
Steinberg SH, Evans IH, Barnes PM (1971) Steinberg’s dictionary of British history. St. Martin’s Press
Sushil Kumar Sharma Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors – Jul 19 2005 (2005) Supreme Court of India. http://www.saveindianfamily.org/misuse-of-498a-is-like-legal-terrorism-sc/. Accessed 26 Mar 2019
Tambiah S, Goody J (1973) Bridewealth and dowry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
The State of Andhra Pradesh vs. Raj Gopal Asawa And Anr on 17 March 2004 (2004). https://indiankanoon.org/doc/736865/. Accessed 13 Mar 2019
Think Change India (2017) Northeast India sets an example by steering clear of the dowry system. https://yourstory.com/2017/09/northeast-india-dowry-free. Accessed 28 Mar 28 2019
Tomasetto C, Alparone FR, Cadinu M (2011) Girls’ math performance under stereotype threat: the moderating role of mothers’ gender stereotypes. Dev Psychol 47(4):943–949. https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2011-13792-002. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Vasudevan B et al (2015) Causes of divorce: a descriptive study from Central Kerala. J Evol Med Dent Sci 4(20):3418–3427. Akshantala Enterprises Private Limited
Vindhya U (2000) ‘Dowry deaths’ in Andhra Pradesh, India. Violence Against Women. SAGE Periodicals Press, Thousand Oaks 6(10):1085–1108. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778010022183532
Wadley SS (1977) Women and the Hindu tradition. Signs J Women Cult Soc 3(1):113–125. https://doi.org/10.1086/493444
Walton-Roberts M (2014) Diasporas and divergent development in Kerala and Punjab. In: Global diasporas and development. Springer, New Delhi, pp 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1047-4_4
Webindia (2015) 4 states free of the evil of dowry. https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/india/20150426/2579894.html Accessed 29 Mar 2019
Witzel M (1996) Little dowry, no sati: the lot of women in the vedic period. J South Asia Women Stud 2(4):4
Yadav KJ et al (2018) Awareness and perception regarding female foeticide among adolescents in a rural community of Nalgonda district, Telangana. Int J Community Med Public Health 5(7):3106. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20182656
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kumar, R. (2020). Dowry System: Unequalizing Gender Equality. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_21-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_21-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70060-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70060-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences