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Intimate Extractions: Demand Dowry and Neoliberal Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh

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  • Katy Gardner

Abstract

Based on qualitative research on marital problems in Dhaka, this article uses the term ‘intimate extractions’ as a lens to explain the relationship between escalating levels of demand dowry and neoliberal development in Bangladesh. Evidence from across Bangladesh shows that demands for cash made by husbands, accompanied by threats of violence or divorce, are on the rise. Building on gendered theories of contemporary capitalist development and feminist analysis of microcredit, the article argues that demand dowry should be understood within the current context of rapid economic development in Bangladesh. High levels of precarity, lack of state welfare and the need for cash for businesses, labour migration, education and healthcare mean that people from all social classes are in perpetual need of money. Marriage problems and the practice of demand dowry present opportunities for husbands to extract money from wives and their families. Embedded in the intimate relationship of marriage, demand dowry can therefore be understood as a ‘conversion’, a process in which intimate relationships are converted into projects of capital accumulation, thus becoming an ‘intimate extraction’.

Suggested Citation

  • Katy Gardner, 2024. "Intimate Extractions: Demand Dowry and Neoliberal Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(1), pages 76-96, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:55:y:2024:i:1:p:76-96
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12813
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kalpana Khanal & Ruchira Sen, 2020. "The Dowry Gift in South Asia: An Institution on the Intersection of Market and Patriarchy," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 356-362, April.
    2. Gardner, Katy, 2018. "We demand work! ‘Dispossession’, patronage and village labour in Bibiyana, Bangladesh," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86541, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Attila Ambrus & Erica Field & Maximo Torero, 2010. "Muslim Family Law, Prenuptial Agreements, and the Emergence of Dowry in Bangladesh," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1349-1397.
    4. Goetz, Anne Marie & Gupta, Rina Sen, 1996. "Who takes the credit? Gender, power, and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 45-63, January.
    5. Hossain, Naomi, 2017. "The Aid Lab: Understanding Bangladesh's Unexpected Success," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198785507.
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