One doesn't have to look thousands of years into the past for an agrian fictional/proposed culture. America had dowries until the mid 1800s and the wealthiest

One doesn't have to look thousands of years into the past for an agrian fictional/proposed culture. America had dowries until the mid 1800s and the wealthiest among us globally still predominantly define marriage in romantic and business terms. The issue that most comments do not discuss, that exacerbates this situation, is the idea that a bride marries into another family and becomes that family's responsibility. Dowry is most often demanded by the parents of the marrying groom, and negative actions are often taken on as a group rather than an individual. As a result: - laws are written to impact the entire family. - The logic is 'one more mouth for the working FIL to feed' esp when marriages are younger and the groom's career is still growing. - women have limited cultural rights to exit relationships in hindu society with massive repercussions socially and in their employment I do want to point out for that last one, the stink of divorce has only recently begun to dissipate. Women in the US in our grandparents and great grandparents era could not bank independently, it was very difficult to get even near parity of pay and often kept cash or valuables to pawn so that they would have an exit or a net if their partner was unsuitable or died.