Good, good
The dowry practice is especially nonsensical now that eligible brides are becoming scarce, what with the skewed gender ratio in births and whatnot.
Indian matchmaking service Shaadi.com has launched a new game based on the immensely popular Angry Birds that aims to highlight the unfair and illegal practice of demanding dowries in South Asian countries. Angry Brides is hosted on Shaadi.com's Facebook pages, and features a red-clad eight-armed woman, presumably styled on …
A recent study showed a birthrate of 69(!) female children born for every 100 male children in families with indian background.
(It's possible that was for 'first child in the family' and that the numbers for second or third child was slightly better)
Here it's not allowed to sex a foetus before week 12, unless there's a reason to fear 'gender related complications', and abortions aren't allowed after week 12.
Of course, there's nothing stopping them from taking a vacation in India where the rules and practices are slightly different...
Why such a backwards system of treating women is allowed in this day and age is beyond me. It's good to hear that the more moderate women in India are making a stand. I hope the goes same other countries I.E Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and even in the US and UK (belive it or not ) Without the harsh repercussions.
"Why such a backwards system of treating women is allowed in this day and age is beyond me"
Usually such things persist due to lack of education where tradition ("well, that's we the way we've always done it!") trumps the law, especially where the "elders" make the decisions.
Such things can and do change, but it can take a couple of generations for it to happen.
" lack of education where tradition ("well, that's we the way we've always done it!") trumps the law, especially where the "elders" make the decisions"
Which is the reason I dont believe anything the English say either. Stupid traditions exist in the UK too.
I learned very early on to not listen to anything the English say. Especially those who choose to attend "Social clubs", Dads and Grandma's. This is where you will find the most dangerous rubbish being spouted.
FWIW, I don't really care if they abort foetuses (foeti?). Better to abort something which is not (yet) a human being, than to treat a human being badly. As the saying goes, the allegedly-"pro-life" lobby stop caring about you once you're born.
Where it gets fun is further down the line. Have as many sons as you like, you'll need a woman to give you grandchildren. And when there's more men looking for a wife than there are women, it becomes a seller's market (if you'll pardon the expression). It's already happening in China.
the problem will solve itself.
When females become scarce, then either the males need to change their attitude, or get on with being single. (That, or start a war. Sadly, homo sapiens sapiens isn't always so sapient a species after all.)
However, "As the saying goes, the allegedly-"pro-life" lobby stop caring about you once you're born."?
Huh? Then the 10% of my income that goes to the homeless and the needy is spent in an uncaring manner? How's that work? How much are *you* giving to the needy beyond what goes into your taxes? Put your money where your mouth is. These are real problems that can be solved, and making it into a pissing match doesn't help.
Its always interesting to hear the commentards ripping other cultures apart just because they are inferior to ours. I bet those other cultures look at ours and think it is inferior for other reasons...
FOR THE RECORD: I'm not in favour of abuse of anyone, anywhere, for any reason. HOWEVER, if we are going to enforce our values on other people, we should expect an adverse reaction. games like this are good at EDUCATING. We need more of this instead of simply telling people they are wrong.
/flame suit on - if you down vote, you don't get it, do you
When I married my (Chinese) wife, *I* had to pay a dowry to *her* family. Seems its the other way round out there (and they have a similar male/female imbalance as in India due to selective abortions). Apparently, I got her for a bargain price too (but the in-laws could still afford to buy a flash new car from the proceeds after the wedding).
Would it have been better to marry an Indian girl and start married life with a few more $ in the pocket? :)
Nah.
It would have been better to say to her parents "Get fucked. I love your daughter, I'm going to be true to her and treat her properly and dedicate myself to her 100% and if you can't accept that without a financial incentive then you are nothing more than a pimp who considers their daughter as a whore" and taken your money and spent it on your family home/children/life together.
Just sayin'
Huh?
The dowry is a guarantee of financial stability.
Doesn't matter if it is the bride's, the groom's, or the parents' responsibility to pay or set funds by -- or even if it is a guarantee enforced in divorce proceedings as we all too often do it in the West -- what you are looking at is a form of social insurance, and slandering that which you do not understand reflects poorly on yourself. It may be abused in this circumstance, but it certainly can be used as a fantastic tool if not perverted by greed.
We in the West could do a lot better about guaranteeing that young marriages are financially stable and the children are provided for *before* the divorce. We have no room to judge.
Back in the day, there were 500 nerds on the internet and one woman.
Now all the dating sites have a heavy surplus of women, and they're all babbling bunny-boilers and/or have bulging psycho eyes (at least if you believe eHarmony, Match.com, etc.'s own ads).
Once upon a time, being single involved sitting back and relaxing. Now it means running screaming away from codependents.
so can we do something about me having to donate a few months' salary to DeBeers in order to get married in America? Not to mention the obscene cost of *flowers* of all things? :P
Traditions should not be considered "backwards" unless they are as Law. Then it's a backwards LAW that needs to be addressed.
If everyone involved is happy with a tradition, then it's good. If one isn't, then deal with it by not following tradition. If there is no third party forcing that tradition down your throat, then any disagreement should be addressed as part of the arrangement. If you can't agree on something like this, you're not gonna get by being married either.