Response to reading 10/26/2010

The Importance of Dowry

I have traveled to Pusan in July. During the trip(I actually have spent only half of a day there), the tour guide told us how does dowry functions in marriage. In Daughters and Generals in the Politics of the Globalized Sneaker, Cynthia Enloe indicates that many Korean women worked for sneakers companies like Reebok and Nike before 1980s to gain respectability, to fulfill their daughterhood, and to prepare for their dowries. However, the author does not show the significance of dowry in many Asian countries. According to the tour guide I met in Korea, before marriage, the family of the bride need to prepare abundant dowries for the family of the bridegroom. The status of married women in their families also largely depend on the dowries they have brought when getting married. Generally, the bridegroom need to buy the house and the bride need to prepare all the furniture and life essentials. In India, dowry has the same function as it does in Korea, however, the situation is even worse in India. It was reported that many women were died in maltreatment after marriage because of insufficient dowry. So are the sufferings that women bear in many other Asian countries. Therefore, it is no wonder that many women are easily used by sneakers companies like Reebok and Nike since many women really need to make money for marriage. Although Korean feminists did a good job in requiring women’s rights, the custom of dowry remains which I am sure is still causing sufferings on women.