When will people realise that their daughter is not a liability or an asset that should be disposed of as quickly as possible? I know, it’s every parent’s dream to see their daughter getting married. And at the cost of anything, they agree to give a bribe so that their daughter can live the best life but what they don’t know is that – Greed has no boundary.
When a groom auctions himself he first, doesn’t have self-respect and second, he can be bought by anybody. So, giving your daughter to that man who doesn’t have a backbone in the first place is the red flag we choose to ignore in the name of Patriarchal society and its non-sensical customs and traditions.
It’s about time we start to think about our daughter, instead of depositing money for her marriage and dowry. The worst of this is parents finding it a disgrace when a divorced daughter comes home. So, we need to understand that a divorced daughter is better than a dead daughter.
Now is the time to think about your daughter’s happiness and stop forcing her as per societal pressures. So, when we come across dowry cases, our faith in humanity fades away. The greed for money and the domestic violence which follows after is the sole reason why our daughters can never be happy.
Cases in India:
Over 50 dowry deaths have been reported in Kerala in the past five years. The cruelty by Husbands or relatives has resulted in more than 2,700 cases followed by molestation.
Kerala has been the centre of Dowry Cases with the Vismaya Death Case and Suchitra Dowry Case. These women died after their in-laws and husbands forced, torched and harassed them for dowry.
The conundrum here is the most recent cases have been reported in Kerala, the state with:
- Hign Social and Human Development Status
- Highest Female Literacy rate – 95 per cent
- Better sex ratio as compared to other states
Despite having legislation against dowry (Kerala Dowry Prevention Act, 1961), Kerala fails to tackle down the issue of Dowry.
CM Pinarayi and the actions he took to save Kerala daughters:
- Fast Track Courts
- Streamlining Existing 24*7 Helplines
- Alert and Effective Police
Women’s involvement in political and economic leadership is a step that needs to be taken:
- The Kerala Legislation only includes around 10% of women, thus there is a need for more women to participate.
- The 21-member state government includes only three women.
- Women’s involvement in the workforce is about 20 per cent, while their educational attainment is at an all-time high.
Apart from women’s involvement in the country’s workforce, we need to take drastic measures like:
- Families should refuse to give or take dowry.
- Educate your daughters instead of preparing them for marriage.
- Dowry – Cancer of the Society – should be addressed by the young.
- We should need to use Celebrities to highlight society’s Cancer.
- Gender sensitization is the only way to eliminate the problems of dowry and domestic abuse.
Adalats, mediation, and counselling are being used by the courts to try to resolve marital and related issues. However, a wife’s maltreatment is frequently “forgotten,” and sufficient punishment is rarely meted out.