Kuwaitis upset over high wedding costs

Kuwaiti youth are unhappy at surging dowries and wedding expenses amid the general economic downturn, according to a new survey.

Young men are more critical of hiking dowries than girls, the study entitled "Social Value of Dowries in Kuwaiti Society", showed.

It highlighted the reality of dowries in Kuwait and their relative significance and social impacts, calling for taking into consideration gender differences and social and cultural changes, reported Kuwait News Agency on Saturday.

The survey involved a sample of 700 men and women aged between 20 and 56 from different areas in the six Kuwaiti governorates.

It showed that 78 percent of the sample viewed dowries as exorbitantly high, 82.4 percent considered dowry as the key problem in surging wedding expenses, while 28.1 percent believed that Kuwaiti girls pay too much heed to dowry.

The respondents are mostly dissatisfied with dowries, with 85.7 percent of the sampled men and 70 percent of the sampled women believing that dowries are too high.

Sometimes, it is the dowry which determines whether marriage can be completed due to familial hard-mindedness and intransigence, it said.

The survey attributed surging dowries to women's employment, education, lack of acquaintance and girls' young age.

It indicated common gender social awareness of social reflections of uncontrollably rising dowries on the entire Kuwaiti society.

For instance, young men are now reluctant to marry Kuwaiti girls, resorting to non-Kuwaiti females, spinsterhood is growing and secret and unofficial marriage cases are mounting, it said.

The survey recommended that the culture of moderation, especially regarding dowries, should be disseminated pursuant to the Islamic Sharia' or Law in a bid to alleviate the negative social aftershocks of surging dowries in the Kuwaiti society.