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Marriage, dowry, and women’s status in rural Punjab, Pakistan
- Source :
- Journal of Population Economics. 32:769-797
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Dowry is a common custom observed in South Asian countries. Despite alleged negative consequences caused by dowry and the legal ban or restrictions on its practice, the custom has been extended, and recently, dowry amounts seem to be increasing. Compared with public interest in and theoretical studies on dowry, empirical studies are relatively scarce mainly due to data unavailability and inadequacy. We conducted a household survey specifically designed to empirically investigate how dowry is associated with women’s status in the marital household in rural Punjab, Pakistan. The dataset is unique because it gathers information on disaggregated marriage expenses, which enables us to examine the relation between each itemized component of dowry and women’s status. Results show that a higher dowry amount, especially in terms of furniture, electronics, and kitchenware, is positively associated with women’s status in the marital household. The positive association of these illiquid items adds suggestive evidence that in rural Punjab, Pakistan, dowry serves as a trousseau that the bride’s parents voluntarily offer to their daughter.
- Subjects :
- Economics and Econometrics
media_common.quotation_subject
Poison control
Suicide prevention
Public interest
Empirical research
Rural societies
Political science
0502 economics and business
Development economics
Women
Marriage
050207 economics
050205 econometrics
Demography
media_common
Social policy
Daughter
JEL:Z13 - Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology • Langu …
05 social sciences
JEL:N35 - Asia including Middle East
Human factors and ergonomics
Dowry
JEL:J12 - Marriage • Marital Dissolution • Family Structure …
JEL:J16 - Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination
Demographic economics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14321475 and 09331433
- Volume :
- 32
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Population Economics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....94fccc018093f1b3dcb19e2d46f9da03