Dowry System in Nepal
Nepal being a Hindu nation has a male dominating society. Males are considered as the main member in the family to endure the responsibility to feed the other members and guarantee them to get the proper need they require. While females mainly spend their life in the household works, feeding, and taking proper care of the children. Males are the one to have relation with other personalities and females are mainly bound within the area of the house. Female before marriage spends her time with their parents and after marriage she goes to her husband’s house for rest of her life.
When a child is born and if that particular is he, then that would be considered to be of great issue for all the family members and will happily accept the son. A great celebration is organized or else; the mother will be blamed for having a girl as child. This is because of the burden of ‘Dowry’ which the parents have to bear while marrying their daughter. Dowry is the wealth or property provided by the bride’s parents/guardians to the bridegroom’s side in the ceremony of marriage. Although this is only the tradition but in many cases this is considered as the compulsory one. Especially in Terai region this is the only means for your daughter to get married, otherwise there will be hardly any person marrying the daughter. In city or town area including in capital also, it has been a new trend of giving dowry to the bridegroom’s side. The family giving fewer dowries will be considered as a low category. The system is getting conservation as a show off and let your neighbor know how sophisticated you are.
Due to all these cases, the dowry is getting its branch higher and longer. Therefore, we should start the major steps to eliminate this from its root level. The following points should be considered for the minimization of the dowry problems:
1. Gender Equality:
No discrimination between the son and the daughter, can assure the solution of many problems we are facing at the real time. Whether we are a girl or a boy, if we get the proper behavior from all our belongings then there will be very fewer chances for us to think about the dowry.
2. Public Awareness:
The public should be made aware about the negative aspects of the dowry system. Although it can be the love of the parents for their daughter, but giving something to the daughter should not be done in front of the public as the showoff and such affairs should be kept aside from the guest. Public at the same time, should be made aware through all the possible means in such a way that no single individual fails to regret the dowry.
3. Education:
Education is the medium for every people to be the independent in the society. If we give the proper education to our girls then there will not be any necessity to give the dowry. Education also gives the proper knowledge against the dowry to the children so that they will not agree for the marriage even though there is the case of giving or taking the dowry. The children who will later on surpass their initial stage and be matured can deny the system of dowry.
4. Proper Law and Order:
Proper law and order should be designed for punishing the side, which force for the dowry system. There are many cases in the Terai region of not marrying the girl without the dowry or the girls are even shown the harsh reputation for not having the demanded dowry. The perfect law and order can diminish such kind of problems with no further existence of dowry.
If the following majors are taken sincerely and critically, the dowry system can be eliminated. We all should have a unity against the dowry so that we can make a society free of the problem and make it an ideal one.
