{"id":116046,"date":"2021-07-02T20:07:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=116046"},"modified":"2021-07-02T20:07:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:37:03","slug":"why-a-grassroots-mass-movement-is-necessary-to-fight-dowry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/why-a-grassroots-mass-movement-is-necessary-to-fight-dowry\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a grassroots mass movement is necessary to fight dowry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/why-a-grassroots-mass-movement-is-necessary-to-fight-dowry-7385022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indian Express <\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: Dowry practice is still prevalent in Indian Society, despite taking different measures.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Country needs a multipronged approach to tackle the inhuman practice of dowry. Mere enactment of a legislative framework or enhancement of literacy levels is not enough to control this problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week, a young woman named Vismaya Nair was found dead in her house. It is alleged that excessive demand for dowry by her husband resulted in the death of the woman.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vismaya is just one more in the endless statistics of horrifying dowry deaths in India. They are so common that if a young woman dies with burns or other injuries within seven years of marriage, it is deemed to be a dowry death.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Challenges in Tackling Dowry:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>First<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>system of patriarchy is deeply entrenched<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in our homes. The bride is looked upon as a commodity and handed over as a package. She is bundled up with gold, a car, and other luxury items.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>legislative framework i.e the Dowry Prohibition Act hasn\u2019t been able to place an effective barrier <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the practice of dowry.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, giving a <\/span><b>sufficient degree of education is also not enough to control this menace.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 For instance, Kerala has near-total literacy and yet weddings continue to be lavish, with brides\u2019 parents often taking loans and nearly bankrupting themselves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the larger context for the practice of dowry is the<\/span><b> poor presence of women in the workforce<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and their consequent lack of financial independence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Multipronged Approach to tackle dowry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Accepting dowry should be made a social stigma.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Superstars should be encouraged to endorse this along with their soap and soft drink endorsements.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women should flatly refuse to give dowry as part of marriage and men should refuse to take it in any form. People should go for simple, inexpensive, dowry-less marriages rather than Bollywood-style extravaganzas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women should be <\/span><b>supported to take up jobs and have independent incomes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This means we should expand childcare and safe public transport, reduce discrimination in hiring, and create affirming workplace environments. At home, men should share domestic work and care responsibilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">States should look at<\/span><b> gender-disaggregated data across the life cycle<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 birth, early childhood, education, nutrition, livelihood, access to healthcare, etc. This will help in addressing gender inequality.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further boys and girls should be systematically sensitized on the core value of gender equality by their teachers and mentors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a larger initiative,<\/span><b> laws, and regulations should be screened to remove gender bias<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, replacing words like \u201cmanpower\u201d with gender-neutral equivalents.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, there should be <\/span><b>zero tolerance towards domestic violence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Families should store evidence and report at once, instead of sending battered women back fearing \u201cwhat society will say\u201d.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support systems must be expanded to help victims with shelter, counseling, legal follow up, and livelihood support when required.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Ahead<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To become a mass movement, this approach must start at the grassroots level.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>power of marriage registration should be decentralised to panchayat secretaries <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as we know that marriage registration protects women\u2019s rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further <\/span><b>women\u2019s self-help groups<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be systematically oriented about violence against women and the existence of local support systems.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By actively spreading awareness and displaying solidarity, women\u2019s self-help groups can play a powerful role in building a more equal society.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Terms To Know:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-dowry-prohibition-act-1961\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dowry Prohibition Act<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Indian Express \u00a0 Relevance: Dowry practice is still prevalent in Indian Society, despite taking different measures. Synopsis: Country needs a multipronged approach to tackle the inhuman practice of dowry. Mere enactment of a legislative framework or enhancement of literacy levels is not enough to control this problem. Background: Last week, a young woman named&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/why-a-grassroots-mass-movement-is-necessary-to-fight-dowry\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why a grassroots mass movement is necessary to fight dowry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700798654,"cached_date":1701765698},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}