WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

http://www.icddrb.org/news_detail.cfm?ID=278

24 March 2010

Bangladesh - Dowry & Physical Violence Against Women

Studies on violence against women have repeatedly shown that such violence occurs least in egalitarian relationships and that lack of power predicts violence. High rates of wife abuse have long been reported in Bangladesh, with some studies reporting up to 49% of ever-married women having experienced physical violence at the hands of their husbands. Studies have also found that women who pay dowry at marriage are more likely to experience physical violence than those who do not pay dowry.

To examine the link between dowry demand and physical wife violence, ICDDR,B recently studied the relationship between dowry demand, dowry payment, lack of dowry demand and physical spousal violence. The study investigated whether the issue of payment or presence of dowry demand in marriage reflecting patriarchal attitudes of the marital family underlie the relationship between dowry and wife abuse.

In marriages where no dowry was demanded, rural women were less likely to experience physical abuse, and all women experienced less frequent and less severe abuse compared with marriages where dowry was both demanded and fully paid. This suggests that in general, a demand for dowry predicts the extent, frequency and severity of abuse towards a wife, regardless of the status of dowry payment......

A wife is more likely to experience physical violence and experience it more frequently and severely in a relatively more patriarchal community and marital home by a husband demonstrating patriarchal attitudes. In general, dowry as an indicator of patriarchal attitude predicts wife abuse and its frequency and severity. When a woman faces a dowry demand for her marriage, nonpayment and partial payment of dowry increases her vulnerability to physical abuse.  It appears that it is families who demand dowry that may be more likely to perpetrate or tolerate violence. It is hence the underlying patriarchal attitude, leading to dowry demands, rather than non-or partial-payment of dowry, which provides fertile ground for physical wife abuse.

As Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Head of the Gender Human Rights and Health Program at ICDDR,B and co-author of the study elucidates, it is these underlying patriarchal ideas that are made manifest in dowry demands which must be addressed: Dowry related violence against women has long been recognized in the context of South Asia. It is commonly perceived to be linked only to dowry payment issues. Findings from this study clearly demonstrate that although absence of full payment of dowry may lead to violence in families, where dowry is demanded the main underlying factor for such violence is patriarchal attitude in the families. Thus, for prevention of dowry violence it is crucial to address patriarchal attitude and ideology prevailing in the society.

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.