• 1999 Research paper 'The Accidents of Womanhood'
   - a good introduction into the dowry marriage system, and its violent derailments, 50 pages, 1999 -
   
• Nov.18, 1999 Interview with Sri Arun Sharma, London, .
  - Retired Director of All India Radio and famous playwright, about future strategies to tackle dowry abuse-
   
• Nov.25, 1999 Seminar on Dowry Abuse, University of London, SOAS
  The Dowry Marriage System & Dowry Related Violence in contemporary India & UK, with downloadable lecture notes
   
• Seminar on Dowry Abuse, University of Leuven, Anthropology Department
  1999 - 2000 weekly seminar : An Anthropological introduction into the study of Legal Systems - Cultural logics and Law. This pages also contains powerpoint slides with presentations on dowry abuse, gender based neglect, female circumcission.
   
• May 26, 2000 Rani Jethmalani at AMAZONE Conference Brussels,
   - Chairperson of the Indian NGO WARLAW - Womens Action Research and Legal Action for Women, Lawyer at the Supreme Court of India -
   
• Dec 6 - 2000 Seminar on Dowry Abuse University of London, SOAS,
  Dowry Violence in India - Pre-Conference Seminar
  with downloadable lecture notes
   
• Jan. 2001 DELHI 2001 Official WebPage of the International Conference on Dowry    - January 27-30, 2001 New Delhi -
  Conference program, practical information &
  Published article "Reflections on Conference Efficacy
   
• ISADABBI - International Society Against Dowry & Bride Burning
   
• Bibliography & Further reading
   
• Links to other web pages on Dowry
   
• PRESS MAP (in Dutch)

" The Accidents of Womanhood "

Table of contents

Preface  4

Introduction

Part I - Dowry, Sati & child marriages: analyses of a Hindu complexity

1. The Dowry marriage system 5
2. The Sati ritual 6
3. Child marriages 7
4. Dowry Related Deaths 8

• Definition   8
• Milieus in which drd's occur    8
• Legislation  9

Part II - Background information in support of this analyses

1. Hindu mythology on women 10

1.1 Manudharmashastra or The laws of Manu  10
1.2 Mythological roots of the Sati ritual   11
1.3 The Goddess Sati   12

2. Legends on Sati 13

2.1 Rani Sati & the Sati Mandirs  13
2.2 The self-immolation ritual of Jouhar in the Rajput era   13

3. Beyond the Dowry marriage system 16

4. Dowry Related Deaths 17

4.1 Acts of  Sati in contemporary India  17
4.2'Kitchen fires' or Bride burning in India   20
4.3 Limited opportunities for girls  20
4.4 Female infanticide   21
4.5  Abortion of female foetuses   21
4.6  Dowry Related Suicide   23

5. Facts and figures 25

6. Legal regulations on Dowry, Sati and foetecide 28

6.1 British Rule - Lord William Bentinck on the suppression of Sati  28
6.2 The Prevention of Sati Act   29
6.3 The Dowry Prohibition Act  30
6.4 The Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques Act   33
6.5 Indian Case Law on Dowry - Some known court cases  34
 

7. Popular reactions and organisations against Dowry 37

7.1 19^th century reforms by the Ram Mohan Roy movement   37
7.2 Organisations for social reform & Progressive media  37
7.3 The pro-Sati lobby   38
7.4 International Society against Dowry & Bride-Burning in India   39
 

Nederlandse samenvatting (Summary in Dutch) 40

Bibliography 46

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