I believe the dowry was intended as a tool to prevent divorce. It may have been a good business deal for the husband to marry, but it would have been terrible to have to return it, ensuring a hopefully better future for the daughter than if he were allowed to use her at will and get rid of her when he wanted, no?
Dowry was always evil. In China and India, for example, girls were seen as an expensive liability for a family, so much so that infanticide was popular.
Even though it is illegal today, it is still widespread, and leads to such customs as “bride burning.” When a couple are married, the groom’s family gets the dowry, but gets greedy, so pours gasoline on the new bride, sometimes still wearing her wedding dress, and burn her alive.
There is no problem with men who have been married getting remarried, so a single man could become a widower repeatedly, as his family got wealthy.
With ultrasound commonly available, as soon as couples find out they are having a girl, they abort her.
Last but not least was the practice of Suttee, or widow burning. When her husband dies, the widow is thrown on his funeral pyre.