It is a sad reality where money and the gains in kind are more important than the person. Dowry is one such enemy of the person! It makes marriage a transaction done at the counter of a shop. In spite of the efforts of prominent public figures such as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vivekanand, dowry persists. It does not persist in some remote corner of the society; it persists in its mainstream.
It is present because some people think that women are a liability, because some people are looking forward to the money they can get through dowry ,and because some people are unwilling to change.
It changes the way young women are viewed; it jeopardizes their marital well-being; it makes them tread on the path of the unethical and make their lives worse. Dowry is undoubtedly one of the biggest enemies of young Indian girls because:-
It nulls the relationship
The parents ready to give a huge amount of dowry for their daughter shall find a son-in-law easily. Where is the relationship? Where is love? The relationship between the two persons stops mattering. The money is the only thing that matters. How long will that money last? Once the money will stop mattering which will be soon, the relationship will remain: a relationship that will have no basis to sustain itself.
It makes people unethical
Dowry makes the in-laws greedy for money. They do not mind asking for enormous sums of money. Sometimes, if her parents have given a little less dowry, the woman is subjected to torture and other atrocities. She is taunted, isolated and deprived of comforts. Sometimes, the women are hurt physically so badly that they get lifelong disabilities.
It makes Girls a burden
Parents who do not have enough money look at their daughters as a burden from the very beginning. They might even commit female infanticide to do away with the burden. Money from the necessary education of the girl child is saved for the purpose of dowry. Women remain uneducated and become a greater burden. Thus, the status of women remains lowered.
It leads to unfair treatment of women.
What can be worst than always being treated like a burden? Women have to undergo verbal abuse for being what they are. They are never accepted by their own families. Their male siblings are always favored over them because they will bring wealth to the family. They are even given education because marrying them would not lead to a drain of money.
It leads to a pervert view of women
Men view their spouse-to-be as someone who will get money in his life. Some of them achieve less career-wise because the dowry shall secure them monetarily. They do not respect the woman for who she is. Their treatment towards her will depend upon the money they have been given at the time of marriage.
Dowry is not merely a physical act but something that permeates and perverts the mentality of people. Therefore, it is necessary to speak against it and prevent it from spreading its roots to the generations to come!
