A girl's family begins collecting things for her dowry as soon as she's born. In working families and in rural areas the dowry will include quilts, cooking pots and utensils, dishes, embroideries, clothing, jewelry, camels, goats, perhaps a cow. The dowries of young women in cities also is likely to include a motor scooter and a refrigerator if her parents can afford it. Dowry is the girl's family's way of buying her the best future they can afford. The dowry is agreed on when a girl is promised to a boy. The content and value of the dowry are decided between the girl's family and the boy's family. (The terms 'boy' and 'girl' are the terms used for the prospective bride and groom.) Many family feuds begin over the issue of dowry. Girls are sometimes rejected as prospective brides because their families can't afford a dowry the boy's family considers adequate. Dowry is often a huge financial drain on the girl's family. But in general her family wants to give her every opportunity for a good marriage into a respectable family. The more dowry they can offer the better they feel her chances are. Also - and I think this is an important point when discussing arranged marriages: the family knows how much her future happiness depends on the kind of match they make for her, and they want her to be happy. They choose someone who has a background very similar to their daughter's, someone whose temperament would suit her, whose family are kind and decent people who will treat her well.