Dowry; a Custom or a Crime?

Dowry is a multi-faceted, deep-rooted gender issue with social, economic and health consequences. This social evil has brought fatal effects to the lives of ordinary women of our society. This social crime has recently made footings in some countries, which were traditionally free of this evil like Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but our focus here remains Pakistan. The paper concentrates on the religious, social and economic structures of the Pakistani society to explain the age-old tradition of extortion of dowry that has taken a brutal form today. This immoral custom has adversely affected our women, individually, and our society as a whole. Gender discrimination and marginalization of women are identified here, to be the root-cause of dowry. This research paper aims to stimulate a thinking process by sensitization and creating awareness against the institutional practice of dowry and dowry violence against women in Pakistan.

What is Dowry?
Like all other societies, cultural institutions, beliefs, norms and practices also govern Pakistani society. The contemporary culture in spite of undergoing transition, mirrors images of centuries-old civilizations and indigenous cultures. One such cultural heritage, which has been adopted as an institution, is dowry or jahez. What is dowry? "A gift; endowment", "The money, goods, or estate, which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; a bride's portion on her marriage." (Webster's 1913 Dictionary). A dowry is an archaic marriage custom where the bride or her family is required to give a gift of money or valuable goods to the groom or his family. In some areas where this was practiced, the size of the necessary dowry was directly proportional to the groom's social standing, thus making it virtually impossible for lower class women to marry into upper class families. In some cases where a woman's family was too poor to afford any dowry whatsoever, she either simply was forbidden from ever marrying, or at most became a