www.dowryfreemarriage.com has been initiated by Nilambur Grama Panchayat, Malapuram district, Kerala and Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society under the Ministry of Human Resources Development. This initiative is part of a campaign against dowry in Nilambur panchayat spearheaded by Nilambur panchayat president Aryadan Shoukat. The website is an endeavour to upscale the campaign at the national level to actualise dowry-free marriages and to build up an interactive community on the issues of marriage, family, dowry, matrimonial property rights and property rights for women. We invite all viewers to visit the website and post their queries. The website will enable the youth to register for marriages and this endeavour aims at creating a community of people engaging in the prohibition of dowry.
Dowry, the social malaise has been gnawing at the social fabric of the entire Indian society. This is inextricably linked to the abysmally deplorable status of women and the diverse non-conventional indicators associated with the status of women. Escalating trends of dowry has intensified sex determination and sex selective abortions and this in turn has led to the increase in violence within domestic spheres, kidnapping and sexual exploitation of women. The campaign in the 1980’s, especially after the international declaration of the decade of women and the struggles by the autonomous women’s movement and the wave of the cultural movement using powerful street plays like “Om Swaha” is inscribed in our memory. The amendment to the Dowry Prohibition Act, a sequel to the struggle led to the rising of hopes but the fact that the legal amendment has hardly brought about any changes in the attitude and the mind-set of the people was a great setback to the women’s movement. The issue was hardly taken up by any other political or social organisation.
Kerala, acclaimed for its high social indicators is a model as far as conventional indicators are concerned. High level of literacy, low infant and maternal mortality, favourable sex ratio, high average age of marriage, increased life expectancy, easy access to health and educational services, a decentralised form of governance has led to improvement in the condition of women. The picture regarding the status of women is paradoxical. The high level of literacy has not helped in increasing the decision making capacity of women. Education has had an inverse relation with the empowerment of women.
Education in Kerala has further domesticated women and reinstated values of subservience and stereotypical roles. Education has not helped reduce gender disparities or redress gender imbalances. The entrenched form of patriarchy interspersing with institutions of religion, caste, class and the consumeristic and neo-liberal economy covertly and insidiously impinges on the movement of women towards self-reliance. This intensifies the process of socialisation and strong values of masculinity and femininity are instilled in men and women. Dowry is one of the heinous forms of practice that affects the status of women. In Kerala, where there were matrilineal societies with land rights bestowed on women, dowry is a recent phenomenon, especially within the past one decade. This has denied women of their property rights and studies by Praveena Kodoth, Centre for Development Studies, show that the land in women’s names has been converted to dowry. Dowry, in the form of gold and cash sparsely reaches the women’s hands and is spent immediately after marriage by the husband and in-laws.
Women hardly have any access or control over their assets whether in the form of land or house or any form of earnings. Ostentation during marriages is a form of status symbol and this trend-setting culture has been initiated by the elite and middle class. This is emulated by extremely poor families and the marriage of a daughter leads to indebtedness and mortgaging and sale of property. Several families are pushed into further penury and misery and conditions of abject poverty. This has led to an increasing attitude of objectifying the girl child and considering her as a burden. In a state with a sex ratio of 1058 females for 1000males, why is the sex ratio diminishing for the age group of 0-6. Is there a trend to conduct sex-determination tests and do away with girl children? This would lead to disastrous repercussions. Added to this is the focus on the ulterior motive of the girl’s life being marriage. The number of girls attending arts courses is high but the number of girls opting for vocational and technical courses is extremely low. The work participation rates are the lowest in the country with only14% working and the lack of work also leads to economic dependence further reducing decision-making capacities. Though Kudumbashree has made inroads into the lives of women by enhancing visibility, women’s increased access to credit has also led to indebtedness due to the use of revolving fund for purposes like marriage expenses rather than ensuring livelihood means or increasing productive capacities. This is the basic context in which the campaign is being planned.
Nilambur, renowned for its bamboo and teak plantation and for the scenic and idyll surroundings and skirted by the Chaliyar river is making history by displaying the political will to address the issue of dowry, the custom most affecting the women in Kerala. This is unprecedented in history of any local self-government. The Local Self Government’s has made genuine attempts in achieving decentralization by working towards the vision of gender equity equality and addressing issues faced by the marginalized communities, especially the tribals. The focus is on achieving equity and breaking shackles and barriers of social exclusion. With this in mind, Nilambur had embarked on a project called “Jyothirgamaya”, where all adults learners passed the 4th standard examination. It was a break through in the area of non-formal education.
As a sequel, the panchayat has gone a stride forward with Mahila Samakhya in implementing a programme “Opathin Oppam” (“Towards equality”) “Oppathin Oppam” has created learning spaces in the tribal villages of Nilambur where children from marginalized communities are being provided supportive education.
Samakhya and Nilambur Panchayat have gone a long way in encouraging children through activities such as performance of cultural activities, workshop including theatre arts and dance performances ten days camp in marital arts, folk art and music performances. Three days workshop in reading and writing have been facilitated to incalculate reading habits in children. Tribal children have been mainstreamed and are now regularly attending schools. This has enabled in fostering creativity and talent and enhancing self-esteem.
Dowry Free village Campaign
Dowry Free village Campaign is another such innovative attempt undertaken by both the panchayat and Kerala Mahila Samakhya Soceity. The status study of women conducted in Nilambur revealed that 80% of women had given dowry and several faced desertion. Women hardly had access to property rights and no decision making roles, either within the family or in public spaces. Dowry was hardly used by women but basically handled by men and his family members. Dowry was mostly in the form of gold or cash. Dowry demands existed prior to and following marriage and was the major reason behind desertion. Early marriages and lack of education, even being bereft of vocational, technical education or life-skills to fend for themselves due to gendered norms of socialization left women in critical condition. Desertion is considered as a tabooed condition and several covert societal restrictions are imposed upon women. Women, especially from Muslim communities have an early marriage as their value in the marriage market descends after a particular age. Commodification of women is a common trend which severally affects their status.
Kudumbasree and other government programmes like SSA have impacted on education of girl children and women’s entry into public forums. Kudumbashree has enhanced visibility into public domains but not affected the stereotypical partriarchal norms and gendered relations. Women have entered more into various forms of voluntary work as Asha’s, ADS of Kudumbashree and engaging in developmental work mostly as passive implementers of the programme and have no role in decision-making forums or capacities.
Workshop on the dream of achieving a dowry-free village – January 14th, 15th, 16th 2009.
The campaign began with a 3 day workshop facilitated by Santosh Babu , of OD Alternatives, new Delhi. The workshop had around 100 participants including religious leaders, youth and women from the CDS and ADS bodies of Kudumbashree. The facilitator stimulated participants dreams about and vision towards a dowry-free village, resources of the panchayat, the social issues and problems they encounter and the solutions arrived at especially for tackling the issue of dowry. The workshop led to all the participants pledging for a dowry-free village and that they would not accept or give dowry.
Discussion with religious leaders – January 8th 2009
Discussion with religious leaders was extremely stimulating where they almost pledged against the practice of dowry. The discussion had participants from “Jamiat Islami”, ISI, Mujahdeen Education Trust and all of them spoke in favour of putting an end to the practice of dowry. There were discussions on the root cause of dowry. Though Quran only stipulates Mehr, it has slowly deteriorated and been converted into the practice of dowry. Women’s rights to property was also discussed. There were discussions about consumerism in Kerala and the craze for gold by women which led to enhancement of the practice of dowry. There was strongly disputed and an argument raised about how the gold market influences the entire community to buy its products. “Ascribed” status associated with dowry during marriage creates the need for lower middle class also to spend on both dowry and ostentation during marriages. Property is mortgaged and they move from one loan to another to repay debts. They are severally indebted and women hardly have any role in decision-making. Finally, women felt they have lost their control over property.
Inauguration of the Campaign – January 19th 2009.
It is in such a context that the dowry-free village campaign was initiated. The campaign was inaugurated by Hon. MP, Sachin Pilot and attended by MPs, MLA, elected representatives and religious leaders from various religious organization like MET, ISI, etc.
Sachin Pilot appreciated the attempt and all leaders extended their heart felt encouragement and support for the campaign. The campaign was explained by MS State Programme Co-ordinator and is being spearheaded by the panchayat president.
Discussion with Mahal Committees- January 28th 2009
Discussions were held with Mahal Committees in each ward and they complied with the opinion of making Nilambur a dowry free village. Since Mahal committees playing an influential role in solemnizing marriages, their position on the issue has a decisive role. They have expressed their solidarity in this campaign.
Special Gramasabha
Following the inauguration, special gramasabhas were conducted in each ward focusing on issues of dowry, desertion and child marriages. In each ward, women participated in large numbers. Their main demand was to increase the age of marriage and insisted on the boys side for abstaining from dowry. There was also the imminent need felt for enhancing the age of marriage as early marriage age for boys led to early marriage for girls. There was an apprehension if boys would marry from other villages if Nilambur was declared a dowry-free village.
The desire for increased importance of education thereby leading to increase/raise in age of marriage was also discussed. This was for the first time in history that special gramasabhas focusing on issues of dowry, desertion and incorporating the issues into planning was discussed.
Cultural programmes – essay, short-story and poetry-writing in each ward – March 30th, April Ist and 2nd. 2009
A cultural festival was celebrated in each ward where women wrote essays, short stories and poems on the issue of dowry. These performances culminated in the Stree Sadas in consonance with women’s day celebration.
Celebration of women’s day and stree sadas – March 14th 2009
A large gathering of women was convened on March 14th in consonance with the women’s day celebration. The gathering had 850 women participants and K. Ajitha, leading women’s activitist and co-ordinator of Anweshi, P.E. Usha, also a reputed women activist known for her struggle regarding the issue of sexual molestation in work place especially in Calicut University and engaged in preparation of module and learning materials for the Irulla community Attapady spoke on the ocassion. The legal aspects of dowry was discussed by Adv. Rajasri, Human Rights Law Network, Ajitha talked about how the women’s movement was foisting courts for women on the issue of dowry and the proceedings of the court held in Calicut, Kerala by Anweshi, Public hearings were held where women made testimonies and the jury recommended intervention methods. The court provided space for women to express/articulate their experiences and grievances in public. Several women of Nilmbur panchayat. were awarded prizes of excellence for their contribution in various areas. A drama based on the issue of dowry was performed by women and there were several cultural performances.
Workshops with college students – 21st and 25th January 2009
A series of workshops were held with college students to understand and analyze the issue of dowry and how dowry is linked to other developmental issues. The workshop were held in the colleges called Classic, Amel etc, where the youth study. The workshops began with motivational and stimulating games and then went to understanding the resources of their panchayat and how development issues are also related to dowry, social analysis of the issue of dowry was done and linked up to the other developmental issues existing in society. The youth expressed their eagerness to join the campaign for dowry free marriages.
Theatre workshop and performance of street play in the nooks of Nilambur – May 15 to 22nd 2009
A three day theatre workshop was facilitated for preparing and performing street play. The first performance was inaugurated by the esteemed theatre artist Nilambur Aisha and was performed in every ward in which 200 people participated. The street play was used as a method to mobilize the layfolk especially the men to the issue of dowry and generate discussion. The general opinion was in favour of dowry-free marriages but the larger question of how the middle and upper class reinforced and upheld this custom by giving and accepting dowry and it has the highly educated and influential who were supposed to lead the path engaged in this practice.
Ward level discussions with women
Ward level discussions were held with women from ayalkootam’s/SHG’s and they again reaffirmed their interest in the campaign and registration.
13th June 2009 Panchayat level registration for Dowry Free Villages.
Registration for dowry-free panchayat was conducted on 13th of June 2009. The registration included registration of the names of young men and women in between the ages of 14 and 30. The form includes the perspective of the head of household towards marriage whether they prefer “dowry-free” or “dowry paying” marriages or have they not formed their opinion. The perspective of young boys and girls towards marriage has also been recorded. The details of deserted and widowed women have also been collected. The reasons for their divorce and desertion have also been registered. The reasons given as options are domestic violence, incessant demand for dowry, having to bear the burden of being the sole economic provider, etc. The vocational training and skills- they have received has also been mentioned in the registration form. Their desire to learn vocational training and the trade/type has also been asked for.
Around 2000 women and B.Ed. students engaged in the collection of data. Training was given to women and the students in registration.
The programmes envisaged as part of the registration are:-
Career guidance for adolescentsLife-skill education for adolescentsPre-marital counseling for youth
Vocational training for deserted women and widows including facilities to start trades and marketing.
Jagratha samithi (Vigilance Committee) for women who have faced domestic violence, desertion, discrimination.
Gender Desk in schools facing issues of discrimination and violence, etc.
