Marriage and Dowry

In certain communities in South Asia, the low status of girls has to be compensated for by the payment of a dowry by the parents of the girl to the husband at the time of marriage. This has resulted in a number of dowry crimes, including mental and physical torture, starvation, rape, and even the burning alive of women by their husbands and/or in-laws in cases where dowry payments are not met.

"Raising a daughter is like watering your neighbors’ garden.” That quote from a Hindu proverb.is referring to is how in some cultures when a daughter is old enough to be married, she leaves that family and joins her husbands'. So, raising a daughter in those cultures is seen as helping another family. Unlike females when a son is born he will stay and take care of the parents as they age. This son preference can lead to some countries committing gendercide. The act of gendercide is the mass killing of people because of their sex. Gendercide is a horrid trend that is due to the son preferences of many countries. Parents in Countries such as china and India have been killing there daughters. In India 25 percent of girls die before they can reach puberty. Also, 200 million women are missing because of being killed at a young age. There are many cultural causes of gendercide. The first is that boy babies are valued far more then female babies. Male children can carry on the family name, take care the parents when they get old and are less "expensive" to raise. In India there is a dowry system where in order for a woman to be married, the bride’s family must give gifts of money, land, livestock or other expensive items. This can put I strain on poorer families who cannot afford to pay a dowry or richer families who do not want to spend that type of money. So , when they have a girl child they either get an abortion or kill the child to save money. There was a Indian mother that

As a result of these reviews, the ongoing reconstruction of the social status and roles of Hindu women has brought about many new changes in Hinduism. Some of these changes include changes in education, health measures, problems of early marriages, the positions of widows, and the representation of women in governing bodies (Desai, et al., 1995). For example, within Hinduism now,

married Lord Darnley. But as she had lived in France most of her childhood she did not realize

Gender inequality is displayed in many countries around the globe. In India, the society begins gendering as soon as a child is born. In most cases, the birth of a daughter is unwelcome but that of a son is celebrated. The boys are brought up bold and outgoing while the girls are expected to be at home and do chores. While the other discriminations like economic or social discriminations are present outside the home, but gender discrimination is present outside and inside households. In a familial setup, the father is the head of the family and decision maker. The mother generally performs the ‘home making’. Even if the woman is employed, she is expected to do the domestic chores, in addition to her job. Even though she earns, she does not have the freedom to plan her salary or decide anything.

Although no set standards have been implemented by the Indian government regarding birth control and “population control,” there is still an overwhelming number of female sterilizations being performed each year. While around 37% of females in India have “chosen” to be permanently sterilized, the vast majority of men have declared that male vasectomies are considered culturally unacceptable. Additionally, the “selected abortion of girls” in addition to the sterilization of women of child bearing age has caused the ratio of women to men, in some communities, to be as small as eight to ten, with the younger generation being more susceptible to a wider

Another supported claim that attributes to this idea of inequality and gender relations is the insights from three indigenous scholars living in India, which I had the privilege of looking in depth to their encounters. They were able to infer that female fetuses are often at times killed off and men are always subject to be the dominant figures in societal practices. They have provided insights that advancement in technology has provided a way that women wouldn’t be treated like valueless customers, but rather provide population control incentives such as nation-state prosperity. (Dube, R., Dube, R., & Bhatnagar) This will be a future planning strategy that might undermine well with the current situation of this issue at hand today.

Parent understand that their girls are a burden and their sons are a gift, and this is what their sons and daughters grow up believing. The dowry placed on girls plays greatly into the sex-selected abortion rate in India. Boys are plainly and simply a better financial investment. Boys will not cost the parents money for marriage, in fact, with a marriage, they are guaranteed to make the parents money. Parents forced with the decision to have a girl and deal with the financial consequences, or abort and hope and pray for better luck in the gender of their child next time around. Quite often they chose the

It also represents a careful deliberation, effort, and commitment to this life-long engagement he is getting himself and his bride into. It is a cultural way of ensuring that the women is not to be brought down by marrying a man who makes her suffer in poverty. This is not universally entirely an anti-feminist value, it can even be good for women in practice at the end of the day for its intention is to guarantee married women of a safety net for her new family’s economic status and well being. In a society that makes a law that bans dowry system because of the reason that such an act propagates the objectification of women and therefore curtails women’s rights, it will also be a law that goes against the cultural values of the communities that uphold the belief systems such as that in Thailand. In this case, the intrinsic value, judged by the intent and the consequence that it brings, dowry system does not have an intrinsic value that goes against the progression of women’s right, and therefore, in Okin’s view, this area of culture could be tolerated under the realm of multiculturalism.

One in four girls in India does not live past puberty due to gendercide, according to The Invisible Girl Project. India is one of the countries with the highest gendercide rates. Although many are aware of the violence against females, the majority does not act against it. Those who do act against it do not succeed because it is a problem incorporated in the roots of societal beliefs. Gendercide has been occurring for centuries in India and continues as a cycle of violence against females. Mass killing of females has been proven to only hurt society. The abortion and elimination of females because of cultural discrimination in India continues the cycle of gendercide.

Hinduism and Marriage In a hindu marriage the words and action means more than just words. It is a guide for the rest of the life. -------------------------------------------------------------------- According to Hinduism, a marriage between two persons is a sacred relationship that is not limited to this life alone.

Infanticide occurs mostly in the poor, rural populations of India. Males are considered to be a source of income, and daughters are believed to cause economic burdens because of the high cost of weddings and dowries. Weddings can be very cost prohibitive in India. The average income is approximately $3500 per year-in U.S. dollars, and the average wedding costs on average is $35,000 (U.S. dollars). More and more common are the murders of women due to the fact that their dowry has not been paid.

In American culture the view on arranged marriages are not looked at very favorably. This is because we have grown up with the knowledge that when it comes time to marry we will have chosen our spouse of our own free will. The match will be a love match and one that is chosen through our own needs. Young men and women in India grow up with an opposite view on marriage. They know that when it comes time to marry their parents will find them a suitable mate and it will be considered scared and a lifelong commitment (Agence France-Presse.) A total of 74 percent of respondents from across India voted in favour of traditional "arranged" marriages, according to the poll by private television channel NDTV. In the Hindu faith, marriage is

It is regrettable that female infanticide and foeticide are rapidly decreasing the female population throughout India. The main factors that is responsible for the increase in the incidence of female infanticide and foeticide is the low status of women, son preference, and the practice of dowry across all casts groups.

In India, there are several ways of how the culture attributes to gendercide. Gendercide is happening in India mostly because of dowry and greed. Why have a daughter when you have to pay such a large sum to marry her off? It seems more logical to have sons to keep your wealth and then gain more wealth when your sons marry. Women must also worry about gendercide even into adulthood. Women are killed for not