Shackled Women - Short Essay

In western cultures, women consider themselves equal to men while in some other parts of the world such as Africa and Asia, women are subjected to violence, sexual abuses, and exploitation by men that considered them as their legal or sexual property. Because tradition and religion play a crucial role in the life of the people of these regions, women are forced to live according to their culture in order for them to fit in the society. From murdered husbands in India, inhuman Islamic laws in Pakistan, to genital mutilation practice in Africa, these unjustifiable acts are virtually impossible to explain because they all go against the moral principles and values of a civilized society.

When a parent deliberately killed his daughter without having remorse because of financial reasons, the first thing that comes into ordinary people’s mind is sorrow and grief. Because dowry is paid by the bride’s family in India, cruel and selfish husbands killed their second daughter in order to avoid paying a second expensive dowry. Dowry in India can account for more than 50% of a household income. (Journeyman Pictures LTD, January 2001). For that reason, fathers murdered their female child. Even if a second female child makes it trough childhood, she may still have a marriage on the rocks if her dowry is not enough to satisfy her in-laws. It is very shocking and disturbing to know that these fathers are still doing it without impunity. The most outrageous of all is that the government of India is aware of these killings and does not take drastic measures to stop it. Because it is culturally right in India to do so, women can not oppose it to the risk of being physically abuse by their