The value of a daughter.

One woman in Southern India summed up the position of her sisters: "Even a useless male buffalo calf fetches 100 rupees (about $3.50). A girl child means nothing but expense." Some Muslim families in India are solving this problem by selling their daughters to elderly Arabs as wives. In 1991, 13-year-old Ameena Badruddin's father sold her to a 60-year-old Saudi. The couple were arrested as they headed back to Saudi Arabia when an airline flight attendant noticed that Ameena was crying. Ameena's story was typical. Her father made $60 a month and had seven other children to support. He could never hope to come up with the $1,000 dowry needed arrange a marriage for Ameena with an Indian. The alternative looked attractive. An elderly Arab offered to pay $250 to be allowed to marry his daughter. With the generosity of an Arab so-in-law, a family such as Ameena's might be able to marry off the bride's younger sisters to Indian husbands.

However, such a marriage could be the start of worse trouble. Official figures suggest that 5,000 young women a year die because of the country's dowry system. A bride's family has to come up with a substantial payment to the groom's family. But, there are many disputes, with the husband's family complaining that the terms of a dowry promise have not been met. In thousands of such cases, the brides are killed often by being set on fire.