Every year in Pakistan, thousands of young brides lose their lives over dowry differences. They are murdered, burned or marred by husbands and in-laws, whose material requests stays unfulfilled.
Dowry system and related inequality are a result of patriarchy that thus needs to be seen through gender viewpoint. In case, there is a way for defining gender, it must be sex + ethnicity
+ class. This suggests that gender is not reserved for men and women and it is not the clash between genders.
In Pakistan, young women need to have plenty of qualities to get married – fair complexion, beauty, thin figure, education, great background and cooking skills. Yet the trait that has turned into the most troubling for women is dowry. In Pakistan, the presence of dowry gets drowned by other similarly terrible crimes, for example, acid-burning, child marriage and sexual wildness. In any case, these wrong doings are regularly brought on by a big amount of dowry that the bride brings.
In fact, this custom was initiated by the Hindus in the subcontinent and it has nothing to do with Islam and Muslims. Indeed, the Prophet stated: ‘the most blessed marriage is one in which the marriage partners place the least burden on each other.’ At one more time, the Holy Prophet (SAW: Peace be upon him) said; “The best marriage is that upon which the least trouble and expense is bestowed.” It is sad that we have departed from the teachings of the Messenger of Allah.
The threat of dowry is not limited to Pakistan only. A few countries are exacted by this. For instance, in India, a woman is burnt for dowry after every 58 minutes (national crime records department); however, the miserable reality is that no proper detail is accessible for dowry related savagery in Pakistan. Incidents, for example, wife-beating, acid throwing and separations are frequently the ends of the brides’ failure to satisfy the desires of greedy husband and in-laws. The educated don’t directly request dowry, however the groom’s family assesses the amount the women would bring, focused around her father’s salary and families’ position in the society.
The way it is practiced in Pakistan, the idea of dowry has got to be similar to paying off the husband’s family to allow one’s daughter into their home, implying that a daughter is a burden on a family. By some means, the positive meaning of love and marriage, and dowry as a means to help the new couple monetarily, is lost in this tradition. Obviously, people who keep on propagating such traditions are to be blamed for the traditions long presence in the society.
The best way to eliminate this tradition is to help people understand that a relation, which must be about love and understanding is, rather, laden with materialism and fiscal amounts recorded on contracts. As a society, we must reconsider the demeaning idea of dowry. Also, the government must take genuine actions to impose restrictions on the dowry and must try their best to strictly force these points of imprisonment; else such misfortunes will keep on occurring. Think about it!
