The custom of giving dowry is very bad:-
Big presentation as also cash money, at the time of the marriage of the bride is a very ancient custom. According to fundamentalists (supporters of old values and the Shastras), this dowry is nothing but the alimony or money giving at a time for the future maintenance of the bride in her Father-in-law’s house. But the reformers looked upon the dowry as a social fine.
Fortunately, the attitude is undergoing a change. Yet dowry or cash is even now, when the society has far-advanced, rules the marriage settlement. It is sometimes for furnishing the chamber of a law-practicing son-in-law or the dispensary of the physician son-in-law or to play for the outfit and expenses of his study for having handsome dowry by exerting pressure on the guardians of the bride still remains. In the lower stratum of the society, whatever may be the religion of the bride, the demand for dowry has not gone down even now.
Through sustained campaigns in literature, stage and screenplays (like “balidan” by Girish Ghosh and Mukunda Das) and also through the columns of newspapers and periodicals, frontal attacks against dowry system have been going on. Spread of education among the girls who are the hardest hit and direct victims of his long-standing practice of dowry-taking. The Most important thing is education. So, that every women can understand what is going to happen with her.
Dowry System how is a curse
Cases of untold mal-treatment of daughters-in-law in the husband’s houses often appear in newspapers. Suicides, bride-during, or inhuman torture of the brides are gruesome (fearful) cases that are being daily heard in law courts. Often severe punishments are infected. But only a few of the events of bride-torture come to light and to law courts. Most of them are hushed up for fear of slander and public calumny.
It is an amazing state of thing that such crimes are being committed more in respectable families where the involved persons are also highly educated. The laws are made by Govt. to deter (prevent) and stop this crime. Social and missionary organizations are trying hard to eradicate (to root out) the dowry system. But the net ground reality is that the practice continues almost unabated different pretexts (under cover of a false plea).
An eminent man like Ishwar Chandra, Desh Bandhu inveighed (protested in loud voice) against the dowry system. In their days a few young men come forward to marry without taking a single farthing, to set an example to others. Community marriages without dowry often take place. But, strangely enough, women themselves of the groom’s house raise demands of dowry more.
The best cause to remove this social Curse dowry is:
Educate women to organize, oppose, and agitate against this evil practice. Instances are not wanting when some educated girls declined to marry the qualified groom since there was a demand for cash or dowry from the other side. Nowadays some grooms prefer career girls i.e. girls employed decently, to be the partners of their life. This is also some kind of dowry. For the employed girls would be forced to forego their salary meant for their father–in–law’s family.
Greedy people claim much money or wealth from the parents of the brides. The torture upon women by men is a very common sight of today. It is really a shame that we are approaching a grim chapter of modern civilization. Let us raise our voice strongly to establish a dowry-free, happy and peaceable society. The Dowry system affects not only a particular family but also affects the whole society.
In this subcontinent more or less every family faces this snake. The bridegroom takes dowry and the womenfolk become victims of dowry. The poor and illiterate girls mainly become victims of dowry. If the guardians fail to fulfill the demand of the bridegrooms, they misbehave with their wives. As a result, many of them get divorced or commit suicide or are killed by their husbands. On the other hand, the bridegroom gets the huge property without any efforts. A section of male members of society thinks that taking dowry is their right. We should develop public awareness to eradicate the evil practice of dowry at first.
Effects of Dowry System:
A movement against this system should declare right now. To save women from the curse of dowry system is a burning issue. This system has affected our whole society. I am dead against this evil system. It should be uprooted from the society. We can do postering, canvassing and make advertisements against this dowry system. The government should take strict legal measures against the person who take dowry. We cannot get rid of this social vice by taking social reformative works urgently. By developing the mentality of our citizens, we can get rid of this system.
Nowadays, the system of giving and taking dowry in marriage has struck deeper roots in Bangladesh. Illiteracy, poverty, and greed of the bridegroom are the main causes of this heinous system. Most of the parents are poor. They cannot keep their word they give before marrying their daughters off. This leads to chaos and hellish unhappiness. Laws prohibiting dowry in Bangladesh include the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980; Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Ordinance, 1982; and Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Ordinance, 1986.
We can get rid of this social vice by taking social reformative work urgently. With this end in view, we have to make people aware of the importance of education. Education and self-reliance of women can make them get rid of the curse of dowry. An educated woman can develop her personality and thus can command respect from her family and society. So, first of all, we have to educate our womenfolk and at the same time, we must launch campaigns against this malpractice. Thus, we can get rid of the curse of this social malady.
Dowry system is a great evil that afflicts the nation in our country:
It is discriminatory against women in general. It reflects the undue domination of men, gender, prejudice, and exploitation of women. In the present time dowry has become a curse sometimes it becomes difficult to quench the thirst of girl’s father-in-law. The Dowry system has ruined the lives of women and families. Highly educated and well-off husbands conspire with their parents against their newly married wives and subject them to untold persecution and humiliation to have more dowry.
The parents of a boy are forcing a bride to pay money, jewelry a dowry to the bridegroom and his family. The devil of the dowry is very strong and does not easily admit any defeat. It has taken a very heavy toll on female life. Dowry is a social curse. It gives nothing to society. But at present, the whole world has turned itself into a global village in terms of space and time. The immortal and vile custom has turned us all into an object of ridicule in the eyes of the civilized nations of the world. Dowry has generated corruption, terrorism, black money, greed, rapaciousness, maliciousness, other financial malpractices, and various psychological complexities. Most people condemn dowry in public but encourage or demand it in private. Dowry also degrades a man to the level of beasts.
