Women in Bangladesh continue to experience violence related to dowry payments, despite a nationwide ban on dowries since 1980.According to local human rights NGO Ain O Salish Kendro, dowry-related violence contributed to at least 78 deaths in the first half of 2009, 172 deaths in 2008, and 187 deaths in 2007. (IRIN News)
Peter Davis, former lecturer at the Centre for Development Studies at Bath University, explained that the dowry payments demanded of a bride’s family can be greater than 200 times the country’s average daily wage, and that the problem is compounded in families who are struggling to pay the medical bills of elderly relatives at the time their daughter is getting married. (IRIN News)
Women who are victims of dowry-related violence are often unwilling or unable to seek legal help because of judicial corruption, lack of support from their families, and fear of retribution from their husbands.
Compiled from: IRIN, “Bangladesh: Dowry Violence Continues Unabated” (11 September 2009).