History of Dowry system

A dowry is a transfer of parental property at the marriage of a daughter.

Dowry contrasts with the related and. While bride price oris a payment by the groom or his family to the bride's parents, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride's family to the groom or his family, ostensibly for the bride. Similarly,  is the property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage and which remains under her ownership and control

Dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it. Dowries continue to be expected, and demanded as a condition to accept a marriage proposal, in some parts of the world, mainly in parts of and the. In some parts of the world, disputes related to dowry sometimes result in acts of including killings and.

Definition

A dowry is the transfer of parental belongings to a daughter at her marriage (i.e. 'inter vivos') rather than at the owner's death (mortis causa). A dowry establish a type of connubial subsidize, the environment of which may diverge widely. This fund may offer an aspect of pecuniary security in widowhood or against a remiss husband, and may ultimately go to provide for her sons and daughters.Dowries may also go toward establishing a marital household, and therefore might include equipment such as linens and furniture.

Locally, dowry is called dahej in Hindi, jahez in Arabic, çeyiz in Turkish, dot in French, and in various parts of Africa as serotwana,idana, saduquat, or mugtaf.

Origins

Aussteuerschrank - a dowry cabinet, currently in a German museum.

Anthropologist Jack Goody's comparative study of dowry systems around the world utilizing the Ethnographic Atlas demonstrated that dowry is a form of inheritance found in the broad swath of Eurasian societies from Japan to Ireland that practice "diverging devolution", i.e., that transmit belongings to children of both sexes. This practice differs from the majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice "homogenous inheritance" in which property is transmitted only to children of the same sex as the property holder. These latter African societies are characterized by the transmission of the ill-named "bride price," the money, goods or property given by the groom or his family to the parents of the bride (not the bride herself).

Goody has demonstrated an historical relationship between the practices of "diverging devolution" (dowry) and the expansion of concentrated plough agriculture on the one hand, and homogenous inheritance (brideprice) and extensive hoe agriculture on the other. Drawing on the work of  Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies in intensive plough agriculture and widespread shifting horticulture. In sparsely populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place, most of the work is done by women. These are the societies that give brideprice. Boserup further associates shifting horticulture with the practice of polygamy, and hence bridewealth is paid as a compensation to her family for the loss of her labour. In plough agriculture farming is mostly men's work; this is where dowry is given. In contrast, plough agriculture is associated with private property and marriage tends to be monogamous, to keep the property within the nuclear family. Close family are the preferred marriage partners so as to keep property within the group.

There is a scholarly debate on Goody's theory. Sylvia Yanagisko argues, for example, that there are a number of societies including parts of Japan, Southern Italy, and China, that do not support Goody's claim that dowry is a form of female inheritance of male property. She notes that Goody's is an evolutionary model in which these historical variables may not be the decisive factors today. Susan Mann argues, in disparity, with examples where even in late imposing China, dowry was a form of female birthright.

Stanley J. Tambiah (Goody's co-author on the earlier "Bridewealth and Dowry"later argued that Goody's overall thesis remain pertinent in North India, although it requisite revision to meet local circumstances. He points out that dowry in North India is only partially used as a bride's wedded fund, and that a large part goes directly to the groom's joint family. This would initially seem to discount Goody's model, except that in North India, the joint family is composed of the groom's parents, his married brothers and unmarried sisters, and their third generation children. This joint family prohibited this part of the dowry, which they used to help fund their own daughter/sister's dowries. But when the parents die, and the shared family partitions, this equally held wealth was then divided among the married sons, such that ultimately, the bride's dowry certain to the joint family returned to her and her husband as their "connubial fund.

Schlegel and Eloul delayed on Goody's model through further statistical analysis of the Ethnographic atlas. They bicker that a major factor in determining the type of marriage transaction is the type of property controlled by the household. Bridewealth circulates assets and women, and is typical of society where property is limited. Dowry concentrate property and is found in property own classes or commercial or landed idyllic peoples. When families award dowry, they not only ensure their daughter's economic security, they also "buy" the best potential husband for her, and son-in-law for themselves.

Bangladesh

The innovative convention in Bangladesh was the bride price, called pawn, where the groom's family makes a payment to the bride's parents. This has regularly been replaced by the dowry, called joutuk. This transition in customs began in the 1960s. By the early 21st century, the brideprice has been supplant by the dowry. Joutuk, sometimes spell Joutukh, like elsewhere in South Asia, is a serious and growing problem in Bangladesh. Between 0.6 to 2.8 brides per year per 100,000 women are reported to die because of dowry-related hostility.

Bangladesh has seen a rise in the probable size of dowries in hot decades, as its middle class has adult, and there has been an additional rise in the rate of "dowry deaths". In Bangladesh, dowry killings are more commonly done by assault or poison rather than blazing. Dowry extortion is also a problem in Bangladesh From January to October 2009, more than 3,413 complaints were made to the police in Bangladesh regarding beatings and other abuses correlated to dowries.One of the methods used by families who are dejected with dowry includes acid throwing, in which strenuous acid is thrown on the bride's face to origin disfiguration and social isolation. From 1995-1998, 15 women reported dowry disputes as the motivation following acid attacks, though that number may be low due to under reporting.Bangladesh is combatting the problem with legislation largely copied from that of India. Laws prohibiting dowry in Bangladesh include Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980; Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Ordinance, 1982; and Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Ordinance, 1986.

Dowry Prohibition Act Clause 4 states that any one tough Dowry from a person has committed a crime. The law does not have any clause stating punishment to misuse it. Therefore the law is habitually used by women to harass in-laws and husbands.