Law, Custom, and Crimes against Women: The Problem of Dowry Death in India

The cultural institution of dowry as practiced in India engenders substantial violence toward women. This takes the form of interfamilial harassment for additional payments of goods and money which can culminate in the murder or suicide of the bride. Reduction of this abuse of women is attempted through law and education. The primary means of controlling these abuses, Dowry Prohibition Act is widely regarded as having failed. Based on comparative examination of the distribution of dowry, dowry abuses, attitudes toward dowry and dowry violence and cross-cultural theories of dowry this analysis shows that the Dowry Prohibition Act will not be effective in reducing what in India are termed dowry deaths. A more effective approach would be the development of a gender-neutral body of property and inheritance law. Until that occurs the question of whether dowry prohibition is actually in the interests of women is unresolved.