A 'bride price', otherwise known as a dowry, is a payment made by a man to the family of a woman he wishes to marry. This may be done for a number of reasons, religious and otherwise. It can be given as a sign of respect to the woman's family. It may act as compensation for the woman's inability to work during pregnancy and motherhood. It can prove to the woman and her family that she will be well taken care of in marriage. The woman's family will often give all or some of the money directly back to her, and it will then be considered her own. The concept has died out in a lot of countries but still continues in places like China. Men are often willing to pay higher amounts to marry a woman who is a virgin, very beautiful, or from an influential family. Some say the bride price is anti-feminist, as it compares women to property to be bought and sold. The money may also become a point of contention within the marriage, with the husband claiming that the bride owes him many children, constant sex, emotional labour, etc. Others say it empowers women, as the money gives the bride many life options, including to leave the marriage if she wishes. What are your thoughts? Would you like to receive a dowry? Would you support it if it became an expectation in your country? Or do you already live somewhere with this rule?
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I support it.
In the U.S., I believe the bride price takes the form of an engagement ring. The traditional reasoning is if a woman's fiance abandons her, then she can sell the ring to support herself until she gets back on her feet. This is why an engagement ring needs to be expensive--much more so than a "regular" ring.
For example, I expect my engagement ring to cost $100,000. No, that's not a typo. It's the cost of living a respectable life in a big U.S. city for one year. I may be single forever, though, and I'm OK with that.
In my culture men have to pay dowry in forms of expensive jewellery but mainly money. I think Men should pay for sure. Even if a man doesn’t give dowry he’s going to expect constant sex, emotiona labour, children etc. if I were to get married, I want to gain as much as I can financially.
In my culture the dowry was always something the woman brought into the marriage (it consisted of personal and household items (like clothes, linens, furniture...often things she started making, sewing or embroidering herself as a girl) and money or other property like land, cattle or a house). So parents worked hard to save up enough money for a proper dowry to make sure their daughter would find a decent husband. Women without a dowry or at least a big inheritance in their future would simply not find a husband or would have to settle for the absolute bottom of the barrel. Even convents usually required a girl to bring a dowry to allowed to join, so staying unmarried and becoming a nun wasn't an option either if your parents didn't have that money.
So having many daughters was obviously a financial problem because it was very hard for a "normal" family to put enough money aside to give each one a proper dowry.
So no. I definitely don't want that back.
It was pretty widespread, too. For example, one of the supposed holy deeds/miracles of St. Nicholas was that he gave a poor man with three daughters money for their dowries so the daughters wouldn't be forced into prostitution out of poverty (which is one of the reasons why St. Nicholas is also the patron saint of children and prostitutes).
As long as that dowry goes in the bride's pocket, and not anyone else's, sure! Just make sure you marry/divorce in a state that doesn't require you to give back the engagement ring.
In Islam the man is required to pay Mehr to woman. Most men don’t pay though, and even if they do some requires it to given back if the woman divorces. However, in many culture mehr has to be paid to woman in full and is non-refundable upon divorce. Men should pay woman money in gold or cash before marriage, that’s her insurance. No matter who you marry men are always an extra chore, and burden. Women need to be compensated to even enter the marriage with them
In my country, it used to be opposite. A woman's family had to pay dowry. Insane.