Dowry

Locally, dowry or trousseau is called jahez in Urdu, jahizie(also means prize not specifically dowry) in Persian and Arabic; dahej in Hindi, dāj in Punjabi, daijo in Nepali,[7] çeyiz in Turkish, joutuk in Bengali, jiazhuang in Mandarin, varadhachanai in Tamil, khatnam in Telugu, streedhanam in Malayalam, miraz in Serbo-Croatian and in various parts of Africa is known as serotwana,[8] idana, saduquat or mugtaf.

[13] Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies in intensive plough agriculture and extensive shifting horticulture.

Sylvia Yanagisko argues, for example, that there are a number of societies including parts of Japan, Southern Italy, and China, that do not support Goody's claim that dowry is a form of female inheritance of male property.

[17] Stanley J. Tambiah later argued that Goody's overall thesis remained pertinent in North India, although it required modification to meet local circumstances.

He points out that dowry in North India is only partially used as a bride's conjugal fund, and that a large part goes directly to the groom's joint family.

This would initially seem to discount Goody's model, except that in North India, the joint family is composed of the groom's parents, his married brothers and unmarried sisters, and their third generation children.

Dowry was a very common institution in Roman times,[31] and it began out of a desire to get the bride's family to contribute a share of the costs involved in setting up a new household.

Historical eyewitness reports (discussed below) suggest dowry in ancient India was insignificant, and daughters had inheritance rights, which by custom were exercised at the time of her marriage.

Documentary evidence suggests that at the beginning of 20th century, bridewealth, rather than dowry was the common custom, which often resulted in poor boys remaining unmarried.

The findings of MacDonell and Keith are similar to Witzel, and differ from Tambiah; they cite ancient Indian literature suggesting bridewealth was paid even in brahma- and daiva-types of marriage associated with the Brahmanic (priestly) upper caste.

Arrian's second book similarly notes, They (Indians) marry without either giving or taking dowries, but the women as soon as they are marriageable are brought forward by their fathers in public, to be selected by the victor in wrestling or boxing or running or someone who excels in any other manly exercise.

Folklorists often interpret the folk tale Cinderella as the competition between the stepmother and the stepdaughter for resources, which may include the need to provide a dowry.

Coverture was introduced to the common law in some jurisdictions, requiring property of a wife to be held in the husband's name, custody and control.

[57] The English dowry system permitted most noble families to marry off their daughters and thereby gain extended kin and patronage ties.

[68] The French government made efforts to encourage marriage for the male soldiers and traders in New France by granting dowries to women willing to travel to the colony at Quebec.

As the French crown provided dowries for many of the women persuaded to travel to New France for marriages and settlement there, they were known as filles du roi (daughters of the king).

One legend tells how John Hull, the Master of the Mint in Boston and a wealthy man, determined the dowry for his daughter Hannah's marriage to Samuel Sewall.

[71] The daughters of wealthy 19th-century industrialists, who were able to inherit large amounts of money and property, were given "dowries" by their fathers to marry European aristocrats who held a title but had little wealth.

Dowry is most common in nations with inadequate male-biased inheritance laws and patrilineal societies, which expect women to live with or near their husband's family.

It may include cash, jewelry, electrical appliances, furniture, bedding, crockery, utensils, car and other household items that help the newlyweds set up their home.

For example, Indian Muslims call dowry as jahez, and it is classified into two categories: The first comprises some essential articles for the outfit of the bride as well as for conjugal life.

[81] The practice of dowry deaths and murders continues to take place unchecked in many parts of India and this has further added to the concerns of enforcement.

[83] Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code required the bridegroom and his family to be automatically arrested if a wife complains of dowry harassment.

[98] The debt trap created by providing large dowries puts pressure on parents aspiring to arrange a marriage for their daughter(s) into a better social class.

Embroidery is traditionally included in a dowry, as is land, money, jewelry such as necklaces and pazab, shoes, shawls, carpets, bedding, furniture, crockery, mirrors, clocks and such items.

[120] Jahiz is separate from Mahr required by Sharia religious laws, as well as the traditional payment of Shir Baha (literally: price of milk), in rural Iran.

Cehiz often includes furnishings, appliances, crystal, mirrors, bed, jewelry and cash depending on the negotiations between the groom's and bride's families before the wedding day.

Every piece of the gehaz is placed on open cars that go around the village several times, with music, in order to show off the dowry being given by the bride's family to the groom.

Dowry is a traditional and current practice in Morocco, and is called shura, shawar, ssdaq or amerwas depending on the speaker's region and ethnicity (e.g. Arabic, Berber, etc.).

[154] The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern for dowry-related femicide, citing the study by Virendra Kumar which argued that dowry deaths occur primarily in areas of the Indian subcontinent.

Aussteuerschrank – a dowry cabinet, currently in a German museum in Hauenstein .
Jadeite Cabbage – Jin received it as part of her dowry for her wedding to Guangxu, in 1889; originally displayed in Forbidden City (Beijing), it is now in National Palace Museum (Taipei City). [ 47 ]
The dowry for the three virgins (Gentile da Fabriano, c. 1425, Pinacoteca Vaticana , Rome), part of the Saint Nicholas legend.
In an 1828 "Wife Wanted" advertisement in Cornwall , a man claiming a "great taste for building" pledges to apply a prospective wife's dowry-like £1000+ to build property that will be "settled on her for life". [ 56 ]
The Dowry by 19th-century Russian painter, Vasili Pukirev . Dowry was a common practice in Russia through the 19th century.
Fra Angelico 's painting: The Story of St Nicholas Giving Dowry to Three Poor Girls . The 15th-century painting relates to the story of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands a dowry. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. Mysteriously, on three occasions, so goes the story, a bag of gold appeared in their home, for the dowries, courtesy of St Nicholas. Later, St Nicholas came to be known as Santa Claus . [ 70 ]
Muslim Ouled Nail girls waiting in the streets of an Algerian village to earn dowry as dancers. Algerian patrons invited them at cafés and festivals or to shrines of Muslim awliya . When their dowries were adequate they returned to their mountain villages and married within the tribe. This centuries-old tradition has continued into modern Algeria . (Photo from the late 19th century, courtesy of Tropenmuseum, The Netherlands) [ 141 ]