Citation

Kishwar M. Manushi 1993; (78): 8-17.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Samta)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12287497

Abstract

The practice of dowry in India has become identified as the primary cause of women's oppression. It sets families apart in the fight over dowry payments and results in violence against daughters including infanticide. Daughter's get their share of inheritance at the time of marriage under traditional Hindu law. The Dowry Prohibition Act outlaws this practice. On the other hand, customary law allowed entitlements to women which Victorian norms bypassed, thereby paving the way for the disinheritance of women. The ownership of land was vested exclusively in men, and, as land became scarce and women's labor became devalued, women came to be treated as mere dependents and considered as a liability. With the entrance of men into government service as policemen and bank and postal clerks, their status increased, while women continued working in the peasant economy. Government job holders received the biggest dowries because of their access to economic opportunities. Under the Hindu Succession Act, fathers were allowed to will away property in whosoever's favor, which led to the disinheritance of daughters in favor of sons. Inheritance laws increasingly moved in favor of men and against women. Changing marriage patterns also emerged, as paying exorbitant dowries was perceived as a way of upward social mobility. The wife inherited everything at the expense of daughters, and widows automatically got a pension after the husband. Therefore, the wife's right had a stronger social sanction than the rights of daughters in parental property, especially the right to live in the parental home and take care of old parents, should be the solution to this injustice. Thus, parents would look at daughters in the same light as sons, and the culture of women's devaluation would come to an end.

Language: en