The practice of dowry is still in existence in some parts of the world especially in the south Asian countries. In such societies when a daughter is born, it is regarded as a bad omen as they have a huge burden of getting their daughter married. The bride and her parents would have to give whatever the bridegroom’s side demand. The demand may include hard cash and very expensive commodities as well. If the bride is unable to fulfill the bridegroom’s demand, the marriage is then cancelled. In those societies a son is regarded as a wealth bearing medium. Most importantly if a boy is well educated then the dowry could also be beyond a girl’s parent’s capacity in terms of finance. The more qualified the bridegroom, the more expenses the girl’s parents have to bear. It seems like a son could be sold for a good fortune. The love and feelings between the boy and the girl is neglected in this society.
Another worst thing about this system is that when a boy marries a girl on his own or his parent’s consent, and if the girl fails to bring in a dowry up to the boy’s or his parent’s expectations, the girl is really treated as an animal in the house. The daughter in law is then deprived of love, respect and possibly everything.
This is still in practice in this present age. Due to this traditional practice the well educated people too have been seemed to be indulging themselves in a dowry. When will those people learn the basics of human rights if they don’t stop it immediately? Why should a daughter always be regarded as a burden? They too can make their parents proud and live a successful life. These people don’t even send their daughters to school because they think that educating them is another big expense. When their daughter is going to get married, they have to bear more expenses just to fulfill the boy’s and his parent’s demands.
So this system of dowry should be eliminated from a society as soon as possible. To do this, the initial step should be taken by a boy. He has to be bold and needs to take his own stance because the girl he is going to marry is his life long partner. Wealth is never sufficient in any manner in anyone’s life. So how long would some dowry that a girl brings last? This is an appeal to all the boys in such societies to start a new good trend.
"Hey! you boys, you are capable of earning a lot of money and possessing a lot of wealth on your own. You don't need your soon to be wife's dowry, do you?"