Md. Shakib Hasan
The dowry has a long history in Europe, South Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. One of the major functions of the society and the state should be to protect women against ill treatment by their husbands and husbands’ kin. The giving of a dowry more or less disappeared in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. In India and Bangladesh, although illegal, the dowry practice is still common. It is especially common in arranged marriages and rural areas and widely recognized as a traditional ritual of marriage.
Bangladesh suffers from some evil culture and superstitions. Dowry system is one of the worst evil cultures in this society. A dowry is a gift of money or valuables given by the bride’s family to the groom and the newly formed household at the time of their marriage. It has been an ancient and widespread practice. This bad culture is found and practiced more or less in communities of the country. In some cases, parents borrow money on exorbitant rate of interest to marry their daughters and sisters and spend rest of their life in great misery. Every year many young women commit suicide or face physical torture after marriage because their parents cannot afford to give dowry. Day by day, marriage has become a kind of business and exploitation of the parents of a girl. A recent survey conducted by Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation in 2008 in three districts in northern side of Bangladesh found that every two out of four family are involved in this bad tradition.
It is obviously true that some parents meet up their demand behind cause of brightness future of their daughter. But this system would break family ties in future. They would not think the long term bad effects of it. The dowry system creates several kinds of gender discrimination. Maximum sectors of our society the dowry system are prevailed. The opinion of social researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam is that dowry system is a matter of great shame and bad culture in our society. It paves the way of gender discrimination. Apart from that, the bad culture hinders a good relationship between the provider and receiver of dowry. As a result, it creates problems between family and within the society. Each year, this bad culture costs a large number of women’s life while it causes many other women to live a degraded life.”
Social researcher Altaf Hossain Mahabub said, “If we don’t stop this practice, our society will destroy one day.” Md Ismail Hossain, Assistant Director of Bangladesh Bank said, “If we want to overcome this situation, we have to emphasize ant- dowry campaign in our society.” Md. Ahsan Habib, Professor of Asian University said, “Only by changing our social perception, it is quietly possible to remove dowry system from our society.”
Social researcher Md. Mostak Ahmed, “If we can reduce the availability of using the women in commercial purpose, their social value will increase and then it will be possible to reduce the dowry from our society.”
There are thousands of cases that few offenders are actually punished. It shows that only law is not enough to protect the women against injustice. It needs social awareness and effective measures. The registration of marriage should be made compulsory. The women and their parents should refuse the men who want dowry. Men and women should promise against the dowry system. We should create a movement and strong public opinion against the dowry system. The movement should spread to villages and every nook and corner of the country. Besides, government and NGOs should be involved in the movement against the course. People who practise dowry system should be socially boycotted.
Courtesy of www.thebangladeshtoday.com
