Despite all the progress society may have made, there’s still one social evil that continues to plague most people — the dowry system. And it was to address this very problem that Manthan, a forum for public discourse, along with Goethe-Zentrum, Hyderabad, organised a talk by Kalpana Sharma at Vidya Ranya School on what could be done about this rampant issue.
Kalpana Sharma, an independent journalist and columnist whose career has spanned over four decades, spoke about the causes that she has been writing about for ages and dowry being one of the most important.
She brought to fore the incidents when there were several ‘sudden stove explosions’ but the underlying reason had gone unnoticed till human rights activists had brought it up. She said, “In those days people had access to only one television channel — Doordarshan. Public demonstrations at that time created large impacts in the minds of people. Although today, there are many more media to address issues, the dowry system still prevails in society, but nobody seems to be doing much about it.” She spoke about how a lot of activists would gather in front of marriage halls and stage a protest when they knew there was an exchange of money or ‘gifts.’
During the course of discussion it was also brought to light that the dowry system which was initially thought to be a Hindu custom, has now found a place in other communities as well. “I have come across 61 per cent of Kerala Muslims give dowry in cash or property,” she said.
It was also highlighted how dowry is being given in the form of gadgets, home appliances and other unusual gifts these days. “In our times, ostentation was looked down upon, but today it has become the norm! Even the younger generation wants larger than life weddings and look upon these as status symbols and therefore the entire dowry phenomenon increases.” The dowry system, which has been prevalent for a long time now, needs to be abolished. And the only way to do that is by making every person conscious of the fact that women are not commodities.