ABSTRACT
Many conversations in Dharmnagri and Jhakri that began with women’s childbearing experiences spiraled off into discussions about the differences between daughters and sons. From there, it was a small step for people to quiz us about marriage arrangements in Britain. And men and women alike often drew explicit contrasts between our situation (and our apparent complacency about having two daughters) and the anxieties that beset the parents of girls in north India. Many lamented the evils of dowry and asserted that the Indian government should ban it. Yet there is legislation ostensibly intended to do just that: The Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961 and an Anti-Dowry Amendment Act in 1984. 1
