The Contemporary Dowry Problematic

Exploring the Role of the Study of Religion in Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

Authors

  • Tamsin Bradley London Metropolitan University Author
  • Emma Tomalin University of Leeds Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v3i2.251

Keywords:

dowry, India, postcolonial, religion, violence, women

Abstract

This article explores the contemporary dowry problematic through a study of religions perspective. The argument made is that for religious women challenges to dowry will often be made by them from within their religious tradition. Whilst feminist scholars of religion recognize the role that it plays in shaping patriarchal practices such as dowry, ignoring the significance of religion in the lives of many women will only serve to marginalize them further from the anti-dowry campaign. This article considers what anti-dowry activists, who are mainly secular, can gain from a more sympathetic view of religion.

Author Biographies

  • Tamsin Bradley, London Metropolitan University

    Director International Centre for Community Development Faculty of Applied Social Sciences London Metropolitan University, Old Castle St London E1 7NT UK

  • Emma Tomalin, University of Leeds

    Department of Theology and Religious Studies University of Leeds, Woodhouse Leeds LS2 9JT UK

References

Asad, T. 1987. ‘Are There Histories of Peoples without Europe? A Review Article.’ Comparative Studies in Society and History 29: 594–607. doi:10.1017/S0010417500014742

Banerjee, N. 2002. ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Shrinking Options for Women in Contemporary India.’ In K. Kapadia (ed.), The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India: 43–68. London: Zed Books.

Banerjee N., and D. Jain. 2001. ‘Indian Sex Ratios through Time and Space: Development from Women’s Perspective.’ In V. Mazumdar and N. Krishnaji (eds.), Enduring Conundrum: India’s Sex Ratios: 73–119. New Delhi: Centre for Women’s Development Studies.

Basu, A. M. 1999. ‘Fertility Decline and Increasing Gender Imbalance in India, Including a Possible South Indian Turnaround.’ Development and Change 30(2): 237–63. doi:10.1111/1467-7660.00116

Basu, S. 2001. She Comes to Take her Rights: Property and Propriety. New Delhi: Kali for Women and London: Zed Books.

— 2009. ‘Legacies of the Dowry Prohibition Act in India: Marriage Practices and Feminist Discourses.’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 177–96.

Basu, S. (ed.). 2005. Dowry and Inheritance. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.

Bell, C. 1997. Ritual Perspectives and Dimensions. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Beyer, P. 1994. Religion and Globalization. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Bloch, M. 1986. From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina of Madagascar. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Bose, M. (ed.). 2004. The Ramayana Revisited. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bradley, T. 2006. Challenging the NGOs: Women, Religion and Western Discourses in India. London and New York: I B Tauris.

— 2009. ‘Physical Religious Spaces in the Lives of Rajasthani Village Women: The Ethnographic Study and Practice of Religion in Development.’ Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 10(1): 43–62. doi:10.1080/14649880802675135

Bradley, T., E. Tomalin and M. Subramaniam (eds.). 2009. Dowry: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Women Unlimited and London: Zed Books.

Butalia, S. 2002. The Gift of a Daughter: Encounters with Victims of Dowry. New Delhi: Penguin Books India.

Caplan, L. 1984. ‘Bridegroom Price in Urban India: Class, Caste and “Dowry Evil” among Christians in Madras.’ Man ns 19(2): 216–33.

Dalmia, S., and P. G. Lawrence. 2009. ‘Trends and Patterns in Dowry Transactions: Evidence from North and South India.’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 115–43.

Dhruvarajan, V. 1996. ‘Hinduism, Empowerment of Women, and Development in India.’ Labour Capital and Society 29: 1–2.

Dobia, B. 2000. ‘A Garland of Talking Heads for the Goddess: Some Autobiographical and Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Western Kali.’ In A. Hiltebeitel and K. Erndl, Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses: 223–38. New York: New York University Press.

Doniger, W. 1991. The Laws of Manu. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Dreze, J., and A. Sen. 2002. India: Development and Participation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Emerson Dobash, R. E., and R. P. Dobash. 1998. Rethinking Violence against Women. London: Sage.

Erndl, K. 1992. Victory to the Mother: The Hindu Goddess of North West India in Myth, Ritual and Symbol. New York: Oxford University Press.

— 2007. ‘The Play of the Mother: Possession and Power in Hindu Women’s Goddess Rituals.’ In Pintchman: 113–28.

Flueckiger, J. 1996. Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Froerer, P. 2007. ‘Disciplining the Saffron Way: Moral Education and the Hindu Rasthra.’ Modern Asian Studies 41: 39–59. doi:10.1017/S0026749X06002587

Garg, A. 2001. ‘Countering Violence against Women in Rajasthan: Problems, Strategies and Hazards.’ Development 44: 111–33. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110275

Geertz, C. 1973a. ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.’ In Geertz (ed.) 1973: 412–58.

— 1973b. ‘Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture.’ In Geertz (ed.) 1973: 3–32.

Geertz, C. (ed.). 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Harding, S. 1991. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Harlan, L. 2007. ‘Words that Breach Walls: Women’s Rituals in Rajasthan.’ In Pintchman: 65–85.

Hawthorne, S. 2004. ‘Rethinking Subjectivity in the Gender-orientated Study of Religions: Kristeva and the Subject in Process.’ In U. King and T. Beattie (eds.), Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross Cultural Perspectives: 40–50. London and New York: Continuum.

Hess, L. 1999. ‘Rejecting Sita: Indians Respond to the Ideal Man’s Cruel Treatment of his Ideal Wife.’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion 67.1: 1–32.

Jayaraj, D., and S. Subramanian. 2004. ‘Women’s Wellbeing and the Sex Ratio at Birth: Some Suggestive Evidence from India.’ Journal of Development Studies 40(5): 91–119. doi:10.1080/0022038042000218152

Jehan, K. 2009. Heroes or Hondas?: Analysing Men’s Dowry Narratives in a Time of Rapid Social Change.’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 59–86.

Joshi, V., and R. Hooja. 1997. ‘Popular Vrats and Vrat Kathas: Women and Patriarchy.’ IDSJ Working Paper Series 79: 1–28.

Kandiyoti, D. 1988. ‘Bargaining with Patriarchy.’ Gender and Society 2(3): 274–90. doi:10.1177/089124388002003004

Kapur, R., and B. Crossman. 1994. ‘Women and Hindutva.’ Women against Fundamentalism Journal 1.5: 42–43.

Kelkar, G. 1992. ‘Stopping the Violence against Women: Fifteen Years of Activism in India.’ In M. Schuker (ed.), Freedom Violence: Women’s Strategies from Around the World: 5–99. Washington, DC: OEF International.

King, U. 1995. Religion and Gender. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

— 2005. ‘Religion and Gender.’ In Macmillan Encyclopaedia of Religion.

King, U., and T. Beattie (eds.). 2004. Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross Cultural Perspectives. London and New York: Continuum.

Kishwar, M. 1996. ‘Yes to Sita, No to Ram! The Continuing Popularity of Sita in India.’ Manushi 98 (January–February): 20–31.

— 1999. Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women. New Delhi: Oxford University Press

— 2005 (1988). ‘Rethinking the Dowry Boycott.’ In Basu 2005 : 268–78. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.

Kishwar, M., et al. 2005 (1980). ‘Beginning with our Own Lives: A Call for Dowry Boycott.’ In Basu 2005 : 265–67. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.

Knott, K. 1996. ‘Hindu Women, Destiny and Stridharma.’ Religion 26: 15–35. doi:10.1006/reli.1996.0002

Kwok Pui-lan. 2002. ‘Unbinding Our Feet: Saving Brown Women and Feminist Religious Discourse.’ In Laura E. Donaldson and Kwok Pui-lan (eds.), Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Discourse: 62–81. New York and London: Routledge.

Lakshmi, C. S. 1989. ‘On Kidneys and Dowry.’ Economic and Political Weekly 24 (28 January): 189–91.

Leslie, J. 1989. The Perfect Wife (Stridharmapaddhati). Delhi: Oxford University Press.

— 1995. 'Dowry, Dowry Deaths and Violence against Women.’ Keynote paper delivered at the first international conference on dowry and bride burning in India held at Harvard Law School, 30 September–2 October.

— 1998. ‘Dowry, Dowry Deaths and Violence against Women: A Journey of Discovery.’ In Menski 1998: 21–35.

— 2005. ‘Gender and Hinduism.’ In L. Jones (ed. in chief), Encyclopaedia of Religion: 3318–26. Detroit: Thomson Gale.

McIntosh, E. 2007. ‘The Concept of Sacrifice: A Reconsideration of the Feminist Critique.’ International Journal of Public Theology 1: 210–29. doi:10.1163/156973207X207344

McKean, L. 1996. Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mathur, K. 2004. Countering Gender Violence: Initiatives towards Collective Action in Rajasthan. New Delhi: Sage.

— 2007. ‘Body as Site, Body as Space: Bodily Integrity and Women’s Empowerment in India.’ IDSJ Working Paper Series 148: 33–34.

Menski, W. 1998a. ‘New Concerns about Abuses of the South Asian Dowry System.’ In Menski 1998: 1–20.

— 1998b. ‘Dowry: A Survey of the Issues and the Literature.’ In Menski 1998: 37-60.

— 1998c: ‘Legal Strategies for Curbing the Dowry Problem.’ In Menski 1998: 97-150.

Menski, W. (ed.). 1998. South Asians and the Dowry Problem. London: Trentham Books.

Miller, B. D. 1981. The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Mohanty, C. 2003 (1988). ‘Under Western Eyes.’ In C. Mohanty, Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity: 17–42. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press.

Molyneux, M. 1985. ‘Mobilization without Emancipation? Women's Interests, State and Revolution in Nicaragua.’ Feminist Studies 11(2) (1985): 227–254. doi:10.2307/3177922

Moser, C. 1993. Gender Planning and Development: Theory, Practice and Training. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203411940

Narayan, Uma. 1997. ‘Cross-Cultural Connections, Border Crossings and Death by Culture.’ In U. Narayan, Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions and Third World Feminism: 81–117. New York: Routledge.

Palriwala, R. 1989. ‘Reaffirming the Anti-Dowry Struggle.’ Economic and Political Weekly (29 April): 942–44.

— 2009. ‘The Spider’s Web: Seeing Dowry, Fighting Dowry.’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 144–76.

Pauwels, H. 2004. ‘Only You: The Wedding of Rama and Sita, Past and Present.’ In M. Bose (ed.), The Ramayana Revisited: 165–219. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Peach, L. J. 2000: ‘Human Rights, Religion and (Sexual) Slavery.’ Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics 20: 65–87.

Perez, R. 2002. ‘Practising Theory through Women’s Bodies, Public Violence and Women’s Strategies of Power and Place.’ In K. Saunders (ed.), Feminist Post-Development Thought: Rethinking Modernity Post-Colonialism and Representation: 173–86. London: Zed Books.

Pintchman, T. (ed.). 2007. Women’s Lives, Women’s Rituals in the Hindu Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rajagopal, A. 2001. Politics after Television: Hindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Indian Public. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511489051

Rappaport, R. 1999. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rastogi, M., and P. Therly. 2006. ‘Dowry and its Link to Violence against Women in India.’ Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 7(1): 66–77. doi:10.1177/1524838005283927

Richman, P. (ed.). 1993. Many Ramayanas: Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Robinson, C. A. 1999: Tradition and Liberation: The Hindu Tradition in the Indian Women’s Movement. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.

Rowlands, J. 1998. ‘A Word of the Times, but What Does it Mean? Empowerment in the Discourse and Practice of Development.’ In H. Afshar (ed.), Women and Empowerment: Illustrations of the Third World: 11–34. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Rozario, S. 2009. ‘Dowry in Rural Bangladesh: An Intractable Problem?’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 29–58.

Rudd, J. 2001. ‘Dowry-Murder: An Example of Violence against Women.’ Women’s Studies International Forum 24: 513–22. doi:10.1016/S0277-5395(01)00196-0

Sagade, J. 2005. Child Marriage in India Socio-Legal and Human Rights Dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sarkar, T. 2002. Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Community, Religion and Cultural Nationalism. New Delhi: Permanent Black.

Sarkar, T., and U. Butalia (eds.). 1996. Women and the Hindu Right: A Collection of Essays. New Delhi: Kali for Women.

Sen, Amartya K. 1992. ‘Missing Women.’ British Medical Journal 304.6827 (March): 587–88.

— 1993. ‘The Economics of Life and Death.’ Scientific American 268 (May): 40–47. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0593-40

Sirohi, S. 2003. Stories of Dowry Victims. New Delhi: HarperCollins.

Srinivas, M. N. 1984. Some Reflections on Dowry. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Srinivasan, Padma, and Gary R. Lee. 2004. ‘The Dowry System in Northern India: Women’s Attitudes and Social Change.’ Journal of Marriage and Family 66: 1108–17. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00081.x

Stanley, L., and S. Wise. 1990. ‘Method, Methodology, and Epistemology in Feminist Research Processes.’ In L. Stanley (ed.), Feminist Praxis: Research Theory and Epistemology in Feminist Sociology: 4–19. New York: Routledge.

Stone, L., and C. James. 1995. ‘Dowry, Bride-Burning, and Female Power in India.’ Women’s Studies International Forum 18(2): 125–34.

Sunder Rajan, R. 2003. The Scandal of the State: Women, Law, and Citizenship in Postcolonial India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Sutherland, S. 1989. ‘Sita and Draupadi: Aggressive Behaviour and Female Role-Models in the Sanskrit Epics.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 109(1): 63–79. doi:10.2307/604337

—1992. Bridging Worlds: Studies on Women in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

—2000. ‘The Voice of Sita in Valmiki’s Sundarakanda.’ In P. Richman (ed.), Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition223–39. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Suthren Hirst, J. 1997. Sita’s Story. Norwich: Religious and Moral Education Press.

Sweetman, C. 1999: ‘Editorial.’ Gender and Development 7(1): 2–6. doi:10.1080/741922933

Tambiah, S. J. 1973. ‘Dowry and Bridewealth and the Property Rights of Women.’ In Jack Goody and Stanley J. Tambiah (eds.), Bridewealth and Dowry: 59–169. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thomas, S. 2005. The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations: The Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-first Century. New York/Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9781403973993

Tomalin, E. 2006: ‘The Thai Bhikkhuni Movement and Women’s Empowerment.’ Gender and Development 14(3): 385–97. doi:10.1080/13552070600980492

— 2009a. ‘Introduction.’ In Bradley, Tomalin and Subramaniam 2009: 1–28.

— 2009b. ‘Buddhist Feminist Transnational Networks, Female Ordination and Women’s Empowerment.’ Oxford Development Studies 37(2): 81–100. doi:10.1080/13600810902859510

Tulsi Das, R. 1937. The Ramayana of Tulsi Das. Trans. F. S. Growse; Allahabad: Ram Narain Lal.

Unnithan-Kumar, M. 2005. ‘Girasia Brideprice and the Politics of Marriage Payments.’ In Basu 2005: 27–41. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.

Van der Veer, P. 1994. Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Young, K. 1995. Women in World Religions. Delhi: South Asian Books.

Young, S., A. Sharma, and K. Young (eds.). 1991. Annual Review of Women in World Religions, I. New York: State University of New York.

Published

2010-09-12

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Bradley, T., & Tomalin, E. (2010). The Contemporary Dowry Problematic: Exploring the Role of the Study of Religion in Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. Religions of South Asia, 3(2), 251-274. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v3i2.251