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  • Essay / Dowry system in Nepal and its influence on marriages

    The traditional dowry system increases the divorce rate in Nepal, so it is no longer useful. Yes, it is time to rethink it even if we have been practicing it for a very long time. We should try to build good customs and traditions that bring good effects to us and these traditions should also be revised over time. After all, it is the dowry system that affects our society negatively rather than positively. The dowry system is a cultural practice found mainly in India and Nepal, where the parents of their daughter are obliged to provide monetary value to their husband's family for the purpose of marriage. It is true that the dowry system is one of the most important social and cultural practices of our country. This has some conditional positive effects for society, but overall we can see more negative effects and it is necessary to admit this soon. Every day the dowry problem is worsening in multiple patterns and its negative effects are clearly visible in Nepali society. One of the current effects of dowry is the increasing divorce rate in Nepal. In other words, the traditional dowry system increases the divorce rate in Nepal and is therefore no longer useful. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayOne of the most significant effects of the dowry system in Nepalese society is the increase in domestic violence against women due to the fact that they do not bring enough dowry during the marriage. In other words, women are forced to face brutal violence for not bringing dowry and hence they file for divorce. For example, as Kalpana Bhusal (senior journalist) clarified in the Global Press Journal, the most common form of domestic violence is beating and burning for dowry in the Terai region and this is the main factor of increasing divorce rate day by day. Furthermore, she explains the effects of the dowry system visible on the mental and physical health of the newlywed (Bhusal). Helen Sherpa, a journalist on violence against women, gives many examples of such violence inflicted on women by the married family in Nepali Times, and one of them is that of Ayekshya. She was beaten by her husband and mother-in-law for not meeting the requirements of marriage (Sherpa). This is just an example, but this type of case is common. These examples are important because they show how the dowry system increases the divorce rate in Nepal. So we can conclude that dowry has increased domestic violence against women, which significantly increases the divorce rate in Nepal. The most common effect of the dowry system in Nepal is the increase in the difference in birth rates between men and women in society. Specifically, the practice of dowry system in Nepalese society has resulted in the trend that no parent wants to have a female child and therefore does not need to give dowry in the future. As an illustration, WHO has included that the main reason for abortion is due to selective gender preference in Nepal and is the side effect of dowry. Bimal Khatiwoda talks about the relationship between selective sexual preference, child marriage and the dowry system in his article “Dowry-Motivated Child Marriages, Old Beliefs”. He further talks about the dowry pressure on parents for the future and how they try to avoid the little girl based on a real incident (Khatiwoda). These examples clearly show how the dowry system..