switch from dowry to brideprice

In some traditions, the bride's family has to pay a dowry - money for the upkeep of their daughter - so she can find a suitable husband.

In other traditions, a would-be husband has to pay a brideprice to compensate the bride's family for the loss of her future labor.

While I would prefer no such financial transaction take place at all, I wonder what a few well-publicized instances of Indian men paying a brideprice would do to change perceptions?

Right now, poor families don't want girls because they can't afford that dowry later on - but if poor families saw that girls were valuable - a cash crop if you will - they would have a very different attitude.

It's not that they don't love their daughters, it's just that they can't afford the current system. It seems to me that a practical advertising campaign - that is to say, demonstrating the value of girls rather than talking about the value of girls - could make a huge difference, at least in India where the issue is more one of finances.

With the coming imbalance in India, at some point this will lead to a self-correction, but it would be nice if it came sooner rather than later.

On the other hand, won't it be funny in forty years when Indian men have a reputation for being pussy-whipped because they know they have to do whatever it takes to keep their wife, because so many other options are available to her.