Anti-Dowry
In Indian culture, the family of the bride gave her Streedhan, in the form of gifts and money on her wedding day. This wealth was meant for the bride, to give her a certain financial independence so that she would not have to be dependent on her husband after marriage.
Over the years, this tradition turned into the practice of giving dowry which is considered by the family of the groom as their right. Men are groomed to demand large amounts from their potential partners. Unfortunately, the families of the women cannot meet these demands which often lead to harassment, abuse and in most cases, death.
Shaadi.com believes that a Marriage should be built on trust, mutual respect and love, definitely not on the amount of money that a woman can bring into a Marriage.
Our initiatives that take a stand against anti-dowry are as follows:
1 WOMAN dies every hour
because of Dowry
Dowry accounts for 32.4%
of crimes against women
From Jan 1,2001 to Dec 31,2012
5 WOMEN commit suicide
everyday because of
dowry disputes
The average Indian household gives over
Highest Number of Dowry Deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh
State-wise number of
Dowry Deaths
#NotForSale
In 2016, Shaadi Cares released a digital campaign called #NotForSale to take a stand against Dowry. The campaign is based upon Shaadi.com’s study on dowry and the disparity faced by women. The survey undertaken highlighted that over 80% Indian women feel dowry is the most severe form of gender disparity, and 71.2% single men are more sensitive towards it as compared to married men. To address this, Shaadi.org released a video depicts Indian men of marriageable age who are, today, standing up against this social evil and urging others to do so as well. The anti-dowry monologue in the video moots the idea, ‘The end of dowry begins with you’.
Dowry Calculator
In 2015, Shaadi.com introduced the Dowry Calculator. It’s not like it sounds and that’s also what left all the tweerati buzzing. On 29th April 2015 Shaadi.com promoted a tweet from its official handle asking – “Want to know how much Dowry you’re worth?’, with a link mentioned in it. The tweet instantly caught everybody’s attention with some thinking it’s a joke while others taking offense to it. The calculator features parameters such as age, education qualification, monthly salary, profession and location to be entered by the user. Much to the user’s dismay, the result is a small (yet significant) number. It is then revealed that the figure actually represents the number of dowry deaths reported in the country between 2001 and 2012.
The Dowry Calculator initiative garnered over 70 million impressions across social media and has already been tried in over 160 countries. It received over 280 thousand page views, with an average time spent of one minute.
Angry Brides
Shaadi.com launched a one of its kind social game ‘Angry Brides’ in January 2012 which effectively helped generate awareness on the evils of dowry. Through this campaign, Shaadi.com received overwhelming support from over 600,000 people & leading media across 35 countries.
To play the game and take a stand against Dowry, users were required to be logged into their Facebook accounts. Gameplay involved grooms with a heavy dowry price tag. The players had to strike the dodging grooms with a weapon of their choice. Each hit decreased the price of the groom & added the money saved to the player’s Anti-Dowry fund.
