Marriage Dowry As Major Cause Of Poverty In Bangladesh

More than 35 million people in Bangladesh, around a quarter of its population, face acute poverty and hunger. Dowry payments of more than 200 times the daily wage and costly medical expenses are major causes of this chronic poverty says research from the University of Bath.

Dr Peter Davis, of the Centre for Development Studies based in the University’s Department of Economics & International Development, has been investigating the issues forcing families into poverty as part of a long-term study in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), and Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd., Dhaka (DATA).

The research found that those households with lower levels of education, that owned less land, had fewer assets and had many young children and elderly relatives, faced the most difficulty in escaping poverty.

The custom of paying a dowry to the future husband’s family when a daughter is married is illegal in Bangladesh, but is still practised by most families living in rural areas. Payment is normally upwards from 20,000 Taka (around £190 or $313 U.S.) and since typical earnings are only 100 Taka (94 pence) per day, this can be a major contributor to poverty for many families with daughters.

Dr Davis found that medical expenses involved in the care of elderly relatives were also a common issue for families living in poverty.

“Some families face a ‘double whammy’, having to pay wedding expenses and dowry for their daughters at the same time in life when elderly relatives are needing more expensive medical care,” said Dr Davis, who spent several months in the country training and working with researchers from DATA Bangladesh to conduct interviews with families for the study.

“Measures such as improving education, employment and health services could play a really significant role in alleviating poverty in these families.

“The government in Bangladesh has already taken positive steps in increasing the enrollment of girls in schools, which should decrease the practice of giving and demanding dowry.”

The researchers surveyed 2,000 households based in 102 rural villages across Bangladesh, that were originally interviewed between eight and 14 years ago, to assess the changes in poverty and well-being that occurred over time.

They found that almost half moved out of poverty during this time, but around one fifth remained chronically poor and a small percentage fell into poverty.

Uniquely, the researchers combined household data with about 300 individual life histories to provide a deeper understanding of the causes of chronic poverty in the country, rather than purely using quantitative conventional research approaches.

Dr Davis explained: “This research is different because it is qualitative as well as quantitative, so it doesn’t just measure the trends, but also finds out the stories behind the trends.

“The life histories collected for this study show that many poor people’s lives improve and decline in a ‘saw-tooth’ pattern, where slow improvements are reversed by sharp declines caused by events such as illness, large medical expenses, wedding expenses and legal disputes.

“This contrasts with the smooth pattern of progress or decline which is often suggested by more conventional research approaches.”

Dr Davis presented the findings with collaborators Agnes Quisumbing from IFPRI and Bob Baulch from the Chronic Poverty Research Centre at a workshop in August in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The workshop was chaired by the director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and was attended by more than 100 senior government officials, international donors and civil society representatives.

Dr Davis added: “We’ve had a lot of very positive feedback on the research we presented at the workshop and we are planning to hold further meetings with senior government officials and policy makers after the December elections.”

Article from:  ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2008)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030075654.htm

Read Full Post »

What goes around comes around…. Ten times harder!

After reading the post ‘Marriage in Islam’, an interesting concept called the ‘dowry cycle’ caught my attention. Basically this dowry cycle addresses the ongoing dowry practise that occurs in many societies.

But who is it that really gets caught in it and suffers the most? Almost everyone will say the bride, well, even I would agree with you but it is only after I gave it some more thought that I realised that this isn’t the case. The funny thing is that this unfortunate person, I’m talking about is the person who thinks that they are getting the best side of the deal but in fact this is the person who enters the ongoing dowry cycle by choice.

So who is it? Simple – Its the Groom.

My dear readers- this might come as a shock to you, as you might be thinking…

“Well, this is the person who becomes the owner of a new property at the time of marriage.” or “This is the person, who gets a large sum of cash on their wedding.”

In my life – I have seen many grooms receive dowry at the time of marriage thinking that this is the key ingredient in order to start a new happy marriage life but in reality they are the ones fooling themselves.

The after effects of this practise has been concealed in our society and is hardly talked about. It normally stops at ‘the groom took the bride and the dowry and lived happily ever after”.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to witness the effects that dowry had on one’s life. I knew of a man who was well-known, wealthy and alhamdulilah was blessed with many girls.

When the time of marriage came for his daughter, this man decided to go ‘husband’ shopping with the intention of finding a well-educated man and I don’t mean any ‘educated’ man, rather he was seeking a university educated man (doctor, engineer etc) and was willing to pay the demanded dowry.

The bottom line was that this man focused on the worldly aspects of his future son-in-law and neglected the religious side. As a result, he had to dig deep in his pockets in order to pay the almost unrealistic dowry of building a fully furnished house in the village, giving the only family house in the city, 500 000 rupees in cash, kilos of gold and all the expenses for that extravagant wedding. He even bought expensive items for the grooms side, so they can bring it to the wedding as presents and claim it is from them. All these ‘gifts’ added up to more then the man’s life savings.

Wow! You’d be thinking… The groom will be entirely satisfied, but even into the wedding, the groom’s family requested for more.

…. “I think your family mentioned another a block of land that you agreed to give as dowry but didn’t??”

Consequently, this man was left near bankruptcy, in debt, emotionally unstable and to make it worse he had 4 single daughters left.

After hearing this – my mind couldn’t comprehend this story – why did this man’s family had to go through all this?

But it was only when I entered this man’s past and saw that this man had once committed the same thing. He too placed such a unbearable dowry on his wife’s family at the time of his marriage and during his marriage.

“What comes around, goes around, ten times harder! ….. Justice was served.”

I bet you will be still feeling sorry for the this poor old man, but who I really feel sorry for now is the groom. For he just voluntarily stepped into the path of the dangerous ‘dowry cycle’.

Thank god, this man learned his lesson, prayed for Allah’s forgiveness and vowed never to let his remaining sons demand dowry nor allow his remaining daughters be married in such a degrading way. Nevertheless, Allah had granted his wish and brought him many pious men who were willing to marry his daughters without the hefty price tag (dowry).

But on the contrary, I have heard of men who don’t take dowry from their wives end up marrying off their sisters and daughters in an honourable and proper Islamic way -No Dowry and Only Mahr.

In conclusion, for those who took dowry – it is better for you to repent, extinguish the dowry cycle and stop it from plaguing your future generations.

As for those who are yet to get married, avoid the temptation of asking for dowry because wealth is one of the temporary aspects of this dunya (worldly life). Stay clear of the dowry cycle!

“Wealth and children are [but] adornment of the worldly life. But the enduring good deeds are better to your Lord for reward and better for [one’s] hope.” [46, Al Kahf 18]

So with this in mind,

Which path will you chose?

Read Full Post »