Dowry is totally maledictus, it is one of the worst cursed nightmare for a women, you may call it "the mother evil curse" .
It is such an unethical practice and a dreadful thing i've ever seen, the most astonishing part is that people take dowry as a religious moral imperative just because of being illiterate.
There is no concept in Islam to urge anything until or unless you have payed for that specific thing.
The Prophet (PBUH) is reported to have said that the best nikah is one in which the least amount has been spent.
Coming to the other hand, it's really easy for affluent families to meet the demand of dowry but what about the one's who just dont earn enough and cannot give enough dowry to their daughter's. So, they take loan's from bank's or from people so that they are able to give their daughter's or reach upto to the demand of dowry as urged by the groom's family and they spend the rest of their lives to pay their loan's.
Nowdays a man only accept those womens who belong to a rich family, highly educated and earns so that her parents can easily meet the demand of dowry.
Whenever a girl is born in a family, there is always a pressure over the father, the very first thing is her brought up and her education for which both of the Parent's struggle alot and when it comes to her marriage they have to spend a fair amount of money and we don't have any idea from when did they even started their savings just to give their daughter's hefty dowry at the time of marriage.
Unfortunately this is one of the most greatest reason why a daughter's birth is considered as a burden in our society.