Submission Senate Inquiry Into Dowry Abuse in Australia

SUBMISSION

SENATE INQUIRY INTO DOWRY ABUSE IN AUSTRALIA

Dr Indrani Ganguly

I welcome the opportunity to provide this submission to the Senate Inquiry into Dowry Abuse in Australia.

My name is Dr Indrani Ganguly. I am a sociologist by training. In both India and Australia, I have worked in many sectors with a keen interest in ensuring equity, safety and security for women and other vulnerable groups.

In Australia I have also served on the management committees of mainstream and multicultural women’s organisations and more broad-based community organisations.

I have been supported to develop this submission by the Executive Committee and members of the Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland.

However, all views expressed are mine alone.

My contact details: Mobile Email:

Summary and Recommendations This submission addresses the terms of reference with specific reference to the diverse communities from India (collectively termed the India-born). It does not cover people of Indian origin from other countries or any other communities which also practise dowry and may have issues of dowry-related abuse. Key points raised are:  recognising the linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of the India-born communities  the urgent need to develop a sound evidence base to identify the prevalence of the different forms of domestic and family violence, including dowry-related abuse in the India-born communities;  the need to address dowry-related abuse within the broader framework of domestic and family violence as many forms domestic and family violence (such as physical, mental and financial abuse) occur concurrently. A focus on dowry alone runs the risk of the other forms of domestic and family violence being missed and also of perpetuating the stereotype that domestic and family violence is peculiar to the India-born.  legislation, policy and programs, should deal with dowry-related abuse in a holistic manner  the role of religion and culture in perpetuating dowry-related abuse should be considered along with other influencing factors, including the broader politico-economic environment and the impact of migration.

A collaborative approach between the Australian and Indian governments and between ethno- specific and universal services is likely to provide the best way forward.

A sound guiding principle for any interventions targeting the India-born is: Whatever you say about India, the opposite is also true. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ solution. Recommendation 1: All jurisdictions undertake data collection on the prevalence and incidence of the different forms of domestic and family violence, including dowry abuse, in the India-born communities, taking into account the diversity of the India-born diaspora. Recommendation 2: That Australian jurisdictions include ethnicity data in child protection statistics. Recommendation 3: Dowry-related violence should be included as a statutory example of economic abuse in all Australian legislation on preventing domestic and family violence, not as standalone legislation. Recommendation 4: Training programs should target not just the police and family violence services, but also other service providers including child protection workers, general practitioners, social workers and mental health workers and bicultural workers.

Recommendation 5: Training programs on dowry and dowry-related abuse should be conducted within the broader framework of domestic and family violence and cultural competency training.

Recommendation 6: The Australian Government should work with Indian government and community leaders and researchers to further investigate laws and practices in India and other countries to combat dowry-related abuse in order to identify how these may be adapted to the Australian context.

Recommendation 7: India-born survivors of dowry-related abuse, skilled Indian women professionals and experienced women community leaders should be supported to be role models and agents of change, with appropriate provisions for their safety and security.

Recommendation 8: Anti-dowry campaigns should be embedded in the broader campaigns against domestic and family violence and use all available forms of media to ensure as wide a reach as possible.

Recommendation 9: Analysis of the role of religion and culture in perpetuating dowry- related abuse should not be simplistic but be based on sound evidence that takes into account the complexity and diversity highlighted by Australian and India-born researchers.

Recommendation 10: Jurisdictions should support collaboration between specialist ethno-specific (Indian) and universal services to develop innovative programs and improve supports and services.

Introduction - The India-born in Australia –diversity within diversity Whatever you say about India, the opposite is also true. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ solution. India is one of the most diverse and complex countries in the world, with a multiplicity of religions, languages, cultures, political bodies and socio-economic strata and innumerable contradictions in beliefs and practices. Any discussion of ‘Indian’ cultural and social beliefs and practices needs to be underpinned by a recognition of this diversity. The Indian diaspora in Australia is diverse in terms of language/culture and religion, though it may not comprise the full range of groups in the country of origin. The 2011 Census revealed that the main languages spoken at home by India-born people in Australia were English (62,862), Hindi (59,055) and Punjabi (57,144). Information on community organisations indicate the presence of other language groups such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayali, Oriya, Sindhis, Kashmiris etc. but their numbers are not known.1 The major religious affiliations amongst India-born were Hinduism (139,631), Sikhism (55,312) and Catholic (48,207). There were also small numbers from Muslim and Anglican backgrounds. There is also evidence of India-born Parsis (Zoroastrians),2 Jews3 and Jains4 living in Australia. However, India-born Australians are relatively homogenous in terms of educational qualifications, workforce participation and median income, all of which are higher than the Australian average.5 English-language proficiency is also high.6 It should be noted that of the 232,502 India- born who spoke a language other than English at home, 93.3 per cent spoke English very well, or well and only 5.3 per cent spoke English not well or not at all. There is no easily available data if there are any significant differences between men and women in terms of education, workforce participation, median income and English- language proficiency. It is also not clear what the proportion of women coming from urban backgrounds to those coming from rural backgrounds and whether there are significant differences amongst the different groups in terms of education, workforce participation and English-language proficiency which may impact on their ability to access services and supports.

1 See for instance https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/multicultural/multicultural-affairs/multicultural- communities/queensland-multicultural-resource-directory/search-directory 2 https://zoroastrians.net/2011/03/15/parsees-of-queensland/ ; http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/the-rich-heritage-of-indian-jews/8362830 3 http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/the-rich-heritage-of-indian-jews/8362830 4 http://australians.com/index.php/jains-australians-com/ 5 Department of Social Services The India-Born Community February 2014 https://www.dss.gov.au/our- responsibilities/settlement-services/programs-policy/a-multicultural-australia/programs-and- publications/community-information-summaries/the-india-born-community 6 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 QuickStats Country of Birth http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/7103 0#cultural

Response to Terms of Reference (a) The extent and nature of knowledge regarding cultural attitudes to, the practice of, and the prevalence of dowry in Australia, both before and after marriage

There is no detailed information on the extent and nature of knowledge regarding cultural attitudes to the practice of dowry. Historically, practices governing ‘gift-giving’ at marriage in India were diverse and governed by varying religious/cultural norms and practices.7 These patterns have changed over time, with women-centred practices (e.g. stridhanam, mehr), which existed concurrently with male-centred practices (collectively known as dowry) in some communities, being marginalised or dying out through a complex mix of cultural, historical and socio-economic factors, including the economic marginalisation of women in both colonial and post-Independence India (Attachment 1). In contemporary India, the dowry system has become the dominant form of gift-giving at marriage in most communities in India, including those which did not historically practise dowry-giving. Some communities (Muslims, First Nations) also practise bride price. Abuse related to bride-price in Indian communities has received much less attention nationally or internationally than dowry. Australian reports typically focus on the contemporary form of dowry. Some commentators have highlighted the historical evolution of this practice, but not the diversity of factors that have influenced its perpetuation and escalation. Dowry-related abuse has been reported in a number of national and jurisdictional reports and inquiries within the broader context of domestic and family violence in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.8 Some Indian women professionals have also highlighted the incidence of dowry-related abuse amongst their clients.9 Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence notes that dowry-related violence is reported as a ‘substantial problem’ by affected communities.10 However, it is difficult to gauge how ‘substantial’ an issue dowry-related abuse is, given that Australian jurisdictions and data collection agencies do not collect ethnicity data in

7 Unique Legal Database 2012 Distinction between “Dowry and “Stridhan” http://www.lawweb.in/2012/12/distinction-between-dowry-and-stridhan.html

8 E.g. Department of Social Services Hearing her voice: Report from the kitchen table conversations with culturally and linguistically diverse women on violence against women and their children, 2015, p 30, 33; Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Invisible women, invisible violence: Understanding and improving data on the experiences of domestic and family violence and sexual assault for diverse groups of women: State of knowledge paper, December 2016, p 23. 9 Submission by Australasian Centre for Human Rights and Health to the ‘Parliamentary Inquiry into a better Family Law System to support and protect those affected by family violence, 12 April 2017, p 6; Manjula O’Connor National Anti-Dowry Summit Special January 2017 Newsletter; Muktesh Chibber COMMENT: Victoria doesn't need an anti-dowry legislation; Jatinder Kaur, Family violence, dowry and 'fake cases' in Australia's Indian community, SBS Punjabi, 27 July 2018 10 Royal Commission into Family Violence, vol 5, p 113, Victoria, March 2016

relation to domestic violence and related issues such as child protection. There is no publicly available data on the prevalence of even the more universal forms of domestic and family violence in culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD). Data on prevalence of domestic and family violence in individual communities and culture- specific practices (including forced marriages and dowry-related abuse in India-born communities) is also unavailable. It is also not clear if the ‘affected communities’ represent the entire spectrum of India- born communities and whether there are significant differences amongst them. (It should be noted that in India, while all communities are considered to be patriarchal, some are considered to be more patriarchal than others, in lights of indicators such as the male- female ratios where there are notable differences).11 The invisibility of CALD populations in domestic violence statistics is attributed to the small numbers of specific communities which makes it difficult to conduct large-scale data collections. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggests that population surveys may be more appropriate for groups where numbers are small, to generate prevalence data relating to violence in general, and to family, domestic and sexual violence among CALD communities.12 There are no such population surveys at present for the India-born diaspora as a whole or India-born specific community that enables us to identify prevalence rates of any form of domestic and family violence. There is no Australian data which can be compared with the Crime Statistics data collected by the Indian National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, on reported cases domestic and family violence and dowry- related crimes in India as a whole and in individual states (though this does not contain information on specific forms of violence and numbers in specific communities).13 Like other women from CALD communities, India-born women remain buried under the shroud of invisibility, emerging only when there are some incidences that are reported by concerned Indian professionals and the media. It is not recommended that any future studies focus only on dowry-related abuse alone as it is unlikely to produce valid prevalence data or give any indication of the prevalence of other forms of domestic and family violence. It also does not allow for comparisons with other communities in Australia.

Indian activists have suggested a more holistic approach as dowry-related abuse usually co-exists with other forms of abuse such as physical and mental abuse. An exclusive focus on dowry runs the risk ‘of making domestic violence [among Indians] as an unique exotic phenomenon. They give the impression that Indian men are perhaps the only one to use violence out of astute and rational calculations. They alone beat up women because they get rewarded with monetary benefits, whereas men in all other parts of the world beat their wives without rhyme or reason, without any benefits accruing to them’.14

11 http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-census-2011-sikhs-jains-have-the-worst-sex-ratio-2161061 12 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia 2018 13 Indian National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs Crime in India 14 Madhu Kishwar 2005 Strategies for Combating the Culture of Dowry and Domestic Violence in India UN Division for the Advancement of Women http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw-gp- 2005/docs/experts/kishwar.dowry.pdf . See also Unique Legal Database 2012 Distinction between “Dowry and “Stridhan http://www.lawweb.in/2012/12/distinction-between-dowry-and- stridhan.html

(c) Reports of dowry abuse, including potential links to family violence, pretext for arranged marriage, forced marriage, modern day slavery, financial abuse, domestic servitude, murder and other crimes, as well as any connections between dowry abuse and adverse mental health outcomes for affected women, including self-harm and suicide

Reports of dowry-related abuse have already been referred to in the response to point (a).

The practice of dowry has the potential to link to family violence when demands are exorbitant and the affected women (and sometimes children) are subjected to abuse.

There is potential for dowry-related abuse to occur across all forms of marriage, forced, consensual arranged (by parents and family) and self-arranged (known as ‘love marriages’ in India).15 However, there is no data to compare prevalence rates in the different forms of marriage.

Like all other forms of domestic and family violence, there is considerable potential for dowry-related abuse to lead to adverse mental health outcomes including self- harm and suicide.16

(d) The adequacy of current Commonwealth and State and Territory laws in establishing broadly accepted community norms and in preventing dowry abuse and specific recommendations for change if laws need to be strengthened

Existing domestic and family violence legislation in the different States and Territories include economic/financial abuse in their definitions of domestic/family violence. However, they do not include dowry-related abuse as examples in this definition.

Australia already has a plethora of domestic and family violence laws but enforcement may be difficult if they are not backed up by adequate resources for law enforcement agencies and service providers and supports for women experiencing domestic and family violence. There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate the links between domestic and family violence and the rising tide of homelessness amongst women and children across all communities. 17

India-born practitioners have expressed concerns about the likelihood that enacting a separate piece of legislation on dowry-related abuse will make the task of enforcement of laws to protect women and children from violence even more onerous than they currently are. It will also further reduce the scarce resources available to

15 See e.g. https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/2/6/14403490/dowry-india-bride-groom-dilemma 16 Manjula O’Connor ‘Dowry-related domestic violence and complex post-traumatic stress disorder: a case report’. Australian Psychiatry, 2017- pp 1-3. 17 https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/reducing-violence/women- domestic-and-family-violence-and-homelessness-a-synthesis-report?HTML

It is not clear how the Migration Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2016 will detect potential perpetrators of domestic and family violence or dowry- related abuse.

An opportunity exists to strengthen collaboration with the Government of India in this regard. Guidelines produced by the Indian Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs include precautions to take in the case of Indian women marrying India-born men residing in other countries, steps to take if subjected to dowry-related abuse, desertion and assistance available through Indian and Australian agencies. 19

It would be useful to explore how widely these guidelines are referred to by India- born women and their natal families before marriage and migration as well as after arriving in Australia. It would also how useful these guidelines are to address the vulnerabilities experienced by married India-born women suffering dowry-related abuse residing in Australia, particularly those who are also on temporary visas.

Consultations on this issue need to include not just government officials but also community-based service providers in the domestic and family violence and legal sectors to develop a comprehensive picture.

(g) Training and reporting regimes that apply to Commonwealth and State police forces and family violence services in relation to dowry and dowry abuse

Training of police and other law enforcement agencies and family violence services in relation to dowry and dowry-related abuse should occur within the broader framework of domestic and family violence training and cultural competency training.

It is important to include child protection services in this training given that dependent children may also be affected.

Improving gender diversity in the workforce may encourage more women from India- born backgrounds to seek assistance.

Improving cultural diversity in the police, domestic and family violence and child protection sectors can also improve the understanding of cultural issues, facilitate communication and strengthen links with the India-born communities. Care should be taken to avoid ethno-specific and multicultural workers being overstretched.

Given the diversity of the India-born steps should also be taken to ensure ethno- specific and multicultural workers are cognisant of this diversity and are not influenced by their own beliefs and practices. Non-government organisations working have stressed the importance of training ethno-specific and bicultural workers ‘to identify and dismantle cultural oppression in their own cultures within a family violence framework’. 20

19 Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Frequently Asked Questions: How to address issues related to Marriages of Indian Women to NRI/PIOs https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/faq-marraiges-of-indian-women.pdf 20 Shakti Migrant and Refugee Women’s Support Group. Submission for the Royal Commission into Family Violence – Shakti Australia Inc. 29 May 2015, pp 9-10

and supports. This is particularly true of those women who are on temporary visas and who may also lack the financial resources to seek assistance. Efforts by the Indian government and non-government organisations to combat dowry- related abuse to women in India as well as those migrating overseas, may provide some useful leads for strategies in Australia, with suitable modifications to avoid stigmatisation and further marginalisation include:  Campaigns by women’s rights groups. In the Australian context this could comprise ensuring that the issues of domestic and family violence amongst CALD, including dowry, are included in all national and state policies and programs to reduce violence against women and their children. It is also important to strengthen initiatives that are driven by trained and experienced women from India-born communities, who work with each other.  Widely publicised instances of influential public figures (e.g. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi) not taking dowry from the bride’s parents are believed to have influenced the strengthening of the Anti-Dowry Act in 1989 and public enforcement of the law in India. There are no India-born public figures who would have this level of influence in Australia, however survivors can be important role models and agents of change as can experienced Indian women professionals and community leaders. It is important that India-born women are at the forefront of campaigns for change and their safety and security is not threatened by disgruntled members of the community. Families who oppose the giving and taking of dowry and respected community leaders in each jurisdiction can speak up through peak bodies, ethno-specific organisations and through mainstream movements such as the White Ribbon movement which has some Indian members.  Campaigns to enlist young people in the move to eliminate dowry extortion and dowry-related abuse. This may be done through school-based programs such as the Respectful Relationships programs, however care needs to be taken that India-born students are not stigmatized, given that at least some of them will already be subject to bullying by dint of their ethnicity.22  Campaigns to destigmatize the act of reporting abusive husbands and/or their families. These should be part of broader campaigns against domestic and family violence.  Use of social media, including blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages dedicated to providing information about and possible solutions to dowry-related abuse. This could be included in current social media outlets against domestic and family violence.  Use of print and non-print media: This could be done in by including anti-dowry messages in the print media and websites which are used by Indians to find prospective marriage partners.23

22 https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/hindi/en/article/2017/06/06/i-became-so-hurt-i-didnt-want-be- indian 23 http://www.angrybrides.in/

Many behaviours and practices considered to be irrefutable religious dogma may in fact emanate from cultural attitudes and behaviours that are themselves influenced by broader historical, socio-economic and political factors. Well-known Indian activist Flavia Agnes points out that Manusmriti is a complex commentary from women's rights perspective, and the British colonial era codification of women's rights based on it for Hindus, and from Islamic texts for Muslims, picked and emphasized certain aspects while it ignored other sections. This construction of personal law during the colonial era created a legal fiction around Manusmriti historic role as a scripture in matters relating to women in South Asia.25 Faith-based leaders have been more frequently associated with helping to perpetuating patriarchal values than with initiating or supporting reforms to redress gender inequities. The ability of even progressive faith-based leaders may vary depending on the structure of the religion. This is particularly true of Hinduism, which is a polytheistic religion with no scriptural equivalent of for example the Bible or the Koran and no hierarchically- ordered structure like the Christian churches. Hinduism is practised through a wide range of temples and small groups. Practice may even take place in the home and involve no congregational meeting. In India, reform movements to improve the position of Hindu women have typically been led by the educated laity, often at consideration risk to their own security, rather than faith-based leaders. The lay leaders were well versed in the religious texts and able to argue that anti-women beliefs and practices emanated from socio-economic considerations, and their arguments have laid the foundation of modern reforms. Faith-based priests in monotheistic religions such as Islam, Christianity and Sikhism may have had more influence, although here again many of the reform movements appear to have been led by lay men and women.26 Some faith-based leaders in Australia have expressed interest in tackling domestic and family violence 27 however their capacity and willingness to lead or support change may vary. Murdolo and Quiazon highlight that given than most religious organisations have excluded women from leadership positions there is a need to proceed carefully and ensure that faith-based leaders and organisations work in partnership with feminist organisations with specific, faith-based expertise.28 Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence highlights that while many faith- based organisations have been supportive to responding to family violence, they lack the knowledge required to supporting those experiencing family violence. Some are reported to have further increased the risk of violence through inadequate, ill-informed responses or insistence on observing particular religious beliefs about e.g. divorce or gender roles.29

25 Flavia Agnes (2001), Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women's Rights in India, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195655247, pages 41-45 26 Religious reform movements in modern India http://www.nios.ac.in/media/documents/SecICHCour/English/CH.10.pdf 27 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-23/faith-based-approach-to-tackling-domestic-violence/9072242 28 Dr Adele Murdolo and Dr Regina Quiazon, Key issues in working with men from immigrant and refugee communities in preventing violence against women White Ribbon Research Series May 2016, p 25. 29 Victorian Government Report of the Royal Commission into Family Violence Summary and recommendations March 2016, p 35.

Any discussion of the relationship between religion and dowry-related abuse (or the broader spectrum of domestic and family violence) should not be based on simplistic assumptions that is due entirely to the importation of ‘foreign/un-Western/un-Australian’ cultures and religions. Christianity was exported to India as part of European empire- building activities. Dowry was also part of European traditions (Mumbai was part of the dower of Catherine of Braganza when she married Charles II of England). Christian dogma preaches that ‘women must submit themselves completely to their husbands.30 Christian groups everywhere have their own sorry history of violence against women (including financial abuse), though in the West it is unlikely that there is any equivalent of the dowry-related violence which exists among contemporary Indian Christians. Dowry-related abuse in Indian Christian communities may be thus considered as stemming from a complex mix of external and indigenous beliefs and practices. (ii) Role of culture Culture is a key factor underpinning all forms of domestic and family violence in every community in Australia, including the dominant Anglo-Saxon one. Consultations with CALD women, including some India-born ones, revealed that they felt that cultural beliefs and norms regarding marriage, separation, divorce and gender roles can prevent women from leaving a violent relationship or seeking assistance. In addition, cultural beliefs can underpin more complex forms of violence such as forced or underage marriage, dowry demands and female genital mutilation.31 At the same time there were concerns that culture would be perceived as the sole cause of domestic and family violence and sexual assault in CALD and this was felt to be an oversimplification of complex issues that were determined by the migration experience and the broader socio-economic and political context. Australian researchers Adele and Quiazon have highlighted the need to discuss the role that little-discussed aspects of Australian culture such as socio-economic power and status play in the relationship between migration, male gender identity and the possible links to domestic and family violence when males see themselves as marginalised.32 Some India-born activists have supported this view: ‘men with good qualifications disappointed at being consigned to low-paid work like driving taxis in Australia can be tempted to use upping the dowry as another way of making money’.33 However, research in comparable countries such as the United States suggests that even highly educated and wealthy India-born migrants may feel they are more politically and socially marginalised than they were in their own country by dint of race and nationality. This may contribute to the more conservative males perpetuating stereotyped notions of the ‘superiority of Indian culture/inviolable sanctity of the Indian family’ and demonstrating hostility or even aggression towards women who report on domestic

30 Note the Biblical injunction that ‘women must submit themselves completely to their husbands…’ Ephesians 5.21. 31 Department of Social Services 2015 Hearing her voice: Report from the kitchen table conversations with culturally and linguistically diverse women on violence against women and their children, p 33 32 Murdolo and Quiazon, op.cit. p 19. 33 Ms Sunila Kotwal, quoted in Debra Jopson, The secret scourge of family violence and murder in Australian Hindu and Sikh communities http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-18/scourge-family-violence-in-hindu-and- sikh-communities/9257724

Attachment 1

Summary of gift-giving practices at marriage in India  In Hindu communities in India, there were traditionally two forms of gift giving at marriage, stridhan (women’s wealth) and dowry. Stridhan as per Hindu customary practices was that portion of wealth, which was the exclusive property of women and passed from mother to daughter. It included gifts of money, property, jewellery or share of business given to a woman as a daughter, as a sister, as wife or daughter-in-law or wealth generated through her own enterprise. A key-defining characteristic of stridhan is that no one in the family could touch it, except if she voluntarily gifts a portion to someone. It passed from mother to daughter and if in a contingency a male member used a part of a woman’s stridhan, he was expected to return it with interest.36

Dowry was money and/or movable/immovable property given to the bridegroom or his family from the bride's family. This is similar to the practice in many Western societies till recent time. (Bombay was presented to King Charles II as part of the dowry, when he married Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal in 1661). The potential for conflict appears to have stemmed more from the practice of giving dowry when there were differences between the expectations of the bridegroom and his family and what the bride’s family was prepared to give.

 Muslims who comprise the largest minority in India, had a similar system with two forms of gift giving. The first is Mehr which comprises some essential articles for the outfit of the bride as well as for conjugal life. The other is made up of valuable goods, clothes, an amount of money settled on after bargaining, and lavish food and hospitality for the bridal party. Many Muslims regard this as antithetical to the teachings of Islam.37 Muslim communities may also practice bride-price.

 Indian Christians who are the second largest minority practice dowry but there is no record of anything similar to the institutions of stridhanam or mehr. There are no specific religious texts guiding dowry related practices, they probably stem from a mix of dowry practices in the West and that of other Indian groups.38

36Madhu Kishwar 2005 Strategies for Combating the Culture of Dowry and Domestic Violence in India UN Division for the Advancement of Women http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw-gp- 2005/docs/experts/kishwar.dowry.pdf . See also Unique Legal Database 2012 Distinction between “Dowry and “Stridhan http://www.lawweb.in/2012/12/distinction-between-dowry-and- stridhan.html 37 Dowry among Indian Muslims. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249767093 Dowry among Indian Muslims . 38 The Impact of the Dowry System in Christian Communities 3 Comment(s) | Posted October 31, 2013 | by A. Vimal Kumar | Asia Authors: A. Vimal Kumar, MMI, Bala Kiran Vannekuty and Joseph Thambi http://www.catholicethics.com/forum-submissions/the-impact-of-the-dowry-system-in-christian-communities

 Sikh scriptures emphasize the equality of men and women and oppose dowry, but the practice of giving and taking dowry is widespread.39

 Prominent minority groups such as Jains, Parsis and Buddhists may exchange gifts but there is little information if these approximate the system of dowry in the other communities.

 First Nations of India (collectively termed Advasis/First Peoples or Scheduled Tribes) are more likely to practice bride-price in which the groom’s kin is obliged to transfer resources to the bride’s kin in return for his rights to her labour and reproductive powers. The payment of bride-price establishes the rights of the man over the woman and her children and there may be disputes if the bride-price does not meet the bride’s family’s expectations.40

Factors influencing erosion of stridhan and rise of the dowry system and dowry-related abuse Key factors that have resulted in the spread of dowry demands and dowry related abuse include:  Erosion of women’s traditional rights to forms of women’s wealth because of the breakdown of community structures that supported it, or in some cases, the imposition of colonial legal and socio-economic systems that eroded the position of women.41  Growth of consumerism in which extortion from the bride’s family is seen as an easy way of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. Indian activists have highlighted that ‘the culture of dowry giving is spreading even to communities which had no such tradition a generation or two ago. This despite the fact that in the last two decades the anti-dowry laws have been made very stringent and draconian’.42

39 The Curse of Dowry Among Sikhs (OP-ED) Gurcharan Singh Kulim August 7 2015 file:///E:/IG/Submissions/Dowry/The%20Curse%20of%20Dowry%20Among%20Sikhs%20(OP- ED)%20 %20SikhNet.html 40 Socio-Legal Status of Adivasis: National and International http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/74298/8/08 chapter%202.pdf 41 Veena Talwar Oldenberg Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime Oxford University Press 2005 42 Kishwar, op cit, p 4.